The 52-Week-High List: 11 Small Cap Names On Wednesday
A fresh list of small-cap names trading at their highest prices of the year shows a sharp split between recent price gains and underlying business results.
Life Sciences Tools & Services, Apparel Retail, and Marine Transportation each placed one name on Wednesday’s 52-week-high list. In total, 11 Small Cap stocks with market values above $2 billion are trading at their strongest price of the past year. The largest is 10x Genomics (TXG), with a market value of about $8.7 billion.
The list shows a wide gap between price action and business performance. The sharpest one-month run belongs to Aveanna Healthcare (AVAH), up 48.2%, while the S&P 500 returned -1.4% over the last month. But does every new high reflect a strengthening business? Below are the 10 largest names on the list.
The Biggest Names On The List
The table below shows the 10 largest of the 11 names, sorted by market capitalization, with returns over four windows:
| Tickers | Market Cap |
1D % Chg |
1W % Chg |
1M % Chg |
1Y % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TXG | $8.75 Bil | 2.6% | 12.2% | 14.9% | 383.1% |
| ANF | $6.84 Bil | 0.4% | 8.1% | 28.3% | 59.4% |
| MATX | $6.83 Bil | 1.6% | 3.5% | 8.7% | 118.8% |
| CLMT | $4.88 Bil | 3.3% | 8.1% | 22.5% | 222.5% |
| CVI | $4.8 Bil | 3.5% | 11.3% | 47.2% | 55.8% |
| AYA | $4.3 Bil | 2.5% | 13.3% | 7.1% | 173.0% |
| GNW | $4.0 Bil | 0.7% | 4.9% | 7.0% | 22.1% |
| DHT | $3.42 Bil | 1.8% | 7.7% | 23.4% | 92.8% |
| ATKR | $3.18 Bil | 0.4% | 0.6% | 0.8% | 63.9% |
| AVAH | $3.05 Bil | 2.6% | 4.2% | 48.2% | 69.7% |
Which high is backed by the business?
Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) pairs its new high with positive fundamentals. The company’s revenue grew 4.7% over the last twelve months, its operating margin is 13.7%, and the stock trades at 12.4 times trailing earnings. In contrast, 10x Genomics (TXG), the largest name on the list, saw its revenue decline 4.3% over the last twelve months, with an operating margin of -14.9%.
Elsewhere, CVR Energy (CVI) trades at 69.5 times trailing earnings (on trailing earnings that include at least one loss quarter, so the multiple is not comparable to a clean-year multiple), even as its revenue grew 17.9% over the last twelve months.
A high price is a question, not an answer.
A list of stocks at 52-week highs is a useful screen for names with positive price action. Strength often persists. But a high is a price, not a verdict on a company’s quality or future. The disciplined move is to treat the price as a starting point and ask whether the business itself earns the level. The real work begins after the screen runs.
Before chasing any name on this list, ask what the company itself expects next. Our Guidance Momentum screen surfaces the stocks whose managements just raised their own outlooks, which is the momentum that tends to have staying power.
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 the three major indices – the S&P 500, S&P Mid-cap, and Russell 2000. Let the highs point; let the discipline decide.