3 Mid Cap Stocks Just Made New 52-Week Highs
A short list of new highs features a sharp run in technology, raising questions about price and value.
As of Friday, September 18, there are 3 Mid Cap US and Canada-listed stocks in the Trefis coverage universe trading at their 52-week highs. The largest company on this brief list is Semtech (SMTC), with a market value of about $17.2 billion, which has seen its stock gain 47.6% over the last month.
That run occurred while the S&P 500 returned -0.6% over the same period. When a stock moves this far ahead of the market to a new high, what kind of business performance is the price rewarding?
Friday’s Full 52-Week-High List
The table below lists all 3 names this screen surfaced, largest first, with one-day, one-week, one-month, and one-year returns:
| Tickers | Market Cap |
1D % Chg |
1W % Chg |
1M % Chg |
1Y % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SMTC | $17.19 Bil | 3.8% | 10.6% | 47.6% | 197.3% |
| HALO | $13.19 Bil | 2.5% | 4.9% | 4.5% | 48.3% |
| TWST | $10.42 Bil | 7.3% | 31.3% | 17.3% | 519.2% |
This screen covers US and Canada-listed stocks in the Trefis coverage universe. Mid Cap here means a market value between $10 billion and $40 billion, the upper figure excluded.
What kind of business earns a price like this?
The numbers show two very different profiles. Semtech (SMTC) trades at 112.0 times trailing earnings, a multiple based on earnings that include at least one loss quarter. Its revenue grew 17.8% over the last twelve months, and its operating margin was 12.0%.
Compare that to Halozyme Therapeutics (HALO), another name on the list. It trades at 31.9 times trailing earnings, also on earnings that include a loss quarter. But its revenue grew 41.2% over the last twelve months, and its operating margin was 55.9%.
So is a new high a signal to buy or to sell?
A 52-week high is an indicator of strength, and strong price action can persist. But a price is not a verdict on a company’s quality or its future. It is simply what the market was willing to pay at a moment in time.
The disciplined next step is always the same. An investor must look past the price to the business itself and decide if the fundamentals truly earn the 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.
Chasing Highs Is A Reflex. Owning Strength Is A System
A 52-week-high list is seductive: everything on it has been going right. But buying a stock because it is at its high is buying a price, and prices revert; what persists is the quality underneath the run.
The Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio is built to own that quality before and after it makes headlines: roughly 30 businesses selected for consistent cash generation, strong margins, and resilient balance sheets, sized and rebalanced with rules. It has a track record of outpacing a benchmark that combines the S&P 500, the S&P MidCap 400, and the Russell 2000. Admire the list; own the system.