Though we’ve been in a bear market for over a year now, there are a few pockets of relative strength.  Let’s look at the Top Ten S&P 500 stocks that are either making or are closest to their 52-week highs.

Apollo Group is the only stock in the S&P 500 currently making a 52-week high.  Another education related stock - ITT Educational (ESI) - also hit a fresh 52-week high (though it’s not in the S&P 500 Index).  This seems to make sense, as the economy deteriorates and workers become unemployed, they turn to re-education in the form of online classes or formal classroom education.  Continue to watch those stocks.

I’ve posted a weekly chart of Apollo Group (APOL) below:

Though we’re making fresh annual highs, we’re just shy of the $95.00 per share peak achieved in 2004.

The 52-week high “Channel” Graph displayed above lists the 52-week highs and lows and then describes where price is currently as a percentage of the range between the 52-week high and 52-week low.  It gives a little more information than just comparing price as a percentage off its highs (as an example, if a stock’s 52-week high was $100 and the 52-week low was $50, and price was currently trading at $75 per share, the percentage would be returned as 50%).

We’re seeing strength in Healthcare and Consumer Staples stocks which is to be expected in a down market, however those stocks above are not making new highs yet.  A bear market tends to take virtually all stocks down, though some ‘hold up better’ than others.

You can use a list like this to find strong stocks as a long (buying) hedge to any short positions you may have in your portfolio using a type of “strong stock in strong sector to offset weak stock in weak sector” strategy.

If anything, it gives you some interesting information and additional stocks to scan for possible trading or investing opportunities.