15 S&P 500 Stocks Just Made New 52-Week Highs
Today’s list of market leaders reveals a stark divide in what investors are rewarding.
Strength on Tuesday is concentrated in two very different corners of the economy: Health Care REITs and Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing, each with 3 names on the list. In total, 15 S&P 500 stocks are at their strongest price of the past year, led by the largest name, UnitedHealth (UNH), with a market value of about $396.2 billion.
The central question in this data is whether the business fundamentals support these new highs, or if price has run ahead of performance. Below is the full list of names making new highs.
The 10 Largest, By Market Cap
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The table below shows the 10 largest of the 15 names, sorted by market capitalization, with returns over four windows:
| Tickers | Market Cap |
1D % Chg |
1W % Chg |
1M % Chg |
1Y % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNH | $396.2 Bil | 3.5% | 2.6% | 8.8% | 58.5% |
| WELL | $172.4 Bil | 0.6% | 4.4% | 19.2% | 57.3% |
| CVS | $140.8 Bil | 2.8% | 4.2% | 12.5% | 85.0% |
| MPC | $94.3 Bil | 1.4% | 5.4% | 31.6% | 87.1% |
| VLO | $93.8 Bil | 0.5% | 4.4% | 33.2% | 120.9% |
| PSX | $85.3 Bil | 1.7% | 5.4% | 27.8% | 74.4% |
| TRV | $79.5 Bil | 0.3% | 9.7% | 20.1% | 41.2% |
| VTR | $46.5 Bil | 1.4% | 5.6% | 20.3% | 52.2% |
| ADM | $41.7 Bil | 0.6% | 4.8% | 14.8% | 63.5% |
| EIX | $30.1 Bil | 1.2% | 2.1% | 10.0% | 61.3% |
The list shows a sharp split between growth and contraction.
The contrast is clearest between health care and energy. Welltower (WELL) has gained 19.2% over the last month, a run backed by revenue that grew 37.7% over the last twelve months. But that performance comes with a valuation of 122.5 times trailing earnings.
Meanwhile, the strongest one-month run on the list belongs to Valero Energy (VLO), up 33.2% over the last month. That gain comes even as its revenue declined 2.8% over the last twelve months.
Strength is a signal to check the underlying business.
A 52-week high means a stock is at its strongest price of the last year, and that strength can persist. But a high is a price, not a verdict on the business itself. The disciplined move is to treat this list not as a set of recommendations, but as a screen for further work.
The key is to ask whether the company’s operating results, like its revenue growth and margins, can justify the market’s new, higher valuation.
A new high tells you what the market already believes. The harder question is which of these runs management itself is underwriting. Our Guidance Momentum screen tracks exactly that: stocks where the company raised its own forward numbers.
Strength Is A Clue. It Is Not A Plan
A stock at its 52-week high has momentum on its side, and momentum is a real force. It is also the most crowded signal in the market, and the difference between a run that lasts and one that tops is always the business underneath.
Checking that business, across thousands of names, is how the Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio is assembled: roughly 30 companies that pass the quality screens, rebalanced on rules. It has a track record of outpacing a benchmark that combines all major indices – the S&P 500, S&P Mid-cap, and Russell 2000. Let the highs point; let the discipline decide.