Buoyed by China stimulus plan, US stocks opened with strong gains. However, markets could not hold on to its gains and slipped into the red as GM stocks tumbled and hit 60 years low. However, even in a volatile session like Monday's there were some interesting stocks that hit 52 week high.

Shares of Almost Family, Inc. (NASDAQ: AFAM) rose $2.38 or 4.62% to an all time high of $53.85. A $420 million company, Almost Family has been ranked No. 24 in Forbes' 2008 listing of the 200 Best Small Companies in America. It was positioned at no. 77 in 2007. Founded in 1976, it has its branch locations in Florida, Kentucky, Connecticut, New Jersey, Ohio, Massachusetts, Alabama, Missouri, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. Altogether, Almost Family operates 89 branch locations in 11 U.S. states. The company primarily operates in two segments, Visiting Nurse and Personal Care. The Visiting Nurse segment provides a range of Medicare-certified home health nursing services to patients in need of recuperative care, typically following a period of hospitalization or care in another type of inpatient facility. The Personal Care segment provides services in patients' homes on an as-needed, hourly, or live-in basis. These services include personal care, medication management, meal preparation, caregiver respite, and homemaking.

The company reported outstanding results for the third quarter. Net income rose 150% to $4.7 million or $0.56 per share compared to $1.9 million, or $0.34 per diluted share in the same quarter in 2007. Net service revenue jumped 84% to $58.7 million from the $32 million earned in the corresponding quarter last year. Net revenue in the company’s visiting nurse segment was $48.6 million, a 113 percent increase from the $22.9 million for the third quarter of last year. Almost half, or 44%, of the revenue growth came from organic growth, and the rest coming from acquired operations. In August, the company bought Patient Care for $45.2 million, an acquisition that added $47 million in annual revenue and eight locations.

The company is poised to perform well even in economic downturn as coming from healthcare industry; it has hardly any exposure to subprime. Also, people do need healthcare services in recession as much as they need in period of economic boom. 

Rockville, Maryland based Emergent BioSolutions (NYSE:EBS) is yet another company holding up well in Monday's market. Shares of the company hit a 52 week high of $21.50 on Monday. A biopharmaceutical company, Emergent BioSolutions' portfolio of products in development includes preventive and therapeutic products for anthrax and botulism.  The company also has vaccines for typhoid, hepatitis B, and group B streptococcus in development.

The company posted stellar earnings for the third quarter. Net income zoomed 265% to $10.4 million, or 34 cents per diluted share, in comparison to net income of $2.8 million, or 10 cents per diluted share,  from a year ago period. Total revenues rose 30% to $56.6 million from $43.6 million. The company attributed the growth in performance to increase in sales of BioThrax, the company’s FDA-licensed vaccine to prevent anthrax. The company recently bagged a contract for 14.5 million additional doses of BioThrax with the Department of Health and Human Services, valued at up to $404 million, which will offer revenue visibility through the third quarter of 2011.

Lexington, Massachusetts based Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: CBST) rose 87 cents or 3.4% to 52 week high of 25.98.Cubist Pharmaceutical is again a biopharmaceutical company engaged in developing and commercializing anti-infective therapies for the acute care environment.  In the U.S., Cubist markets CUBICIN (daptomycin for injection), the first antibiotic in a new class of anti-infective called lipopeptides. Cubist has entered into an agreement with AstraZeneca to handle U.S. hospital sales for their established broad spectrum antibiotic, MERREM I.V. (meropenem for injection). The Cubist product portfolio includes ecallantide, a recombinant human protein in Phase 2 clinical trials for the prevention of blood loss during cardiothoracic surgery, and pre-clinical programs that address unmet medical needs in Gram-negative infections, CDAD (Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea), and HCV (Hepatitis C infections).

The third quarter net income of the company soared 40% to $27.9 million, or 44 cents per share, from $20 million, or 32 cents per share in the same period in previous year. Revenue rose 41% to $112.4 million, from $79.8 million. Cubicin, with sales of $110.6 million out of total $112.4 million, contributed more than 90% to topline. Rest of the revenue was generated by antibiotic Merrem.

Disclosure: Author does not own any of the stocks discussed here.