Facebook, CME Group Among 5 Stocks That Recently Hit 52-Week Highs

Seeing as how the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones are near record highs, it’s not surprising that many stocks have recently hit 52-week highs as well. In this article we’ll take a closer look at five of them: ABIOMED, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABMD), CME Group Inc (NASDAQ:CME), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL), and Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX), and use SEC filings to see what the top hedge funds think of each stock.

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ABIOMED Gaining Ahead of Earnings Release

ABIOMED, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABMD) shares hit a 52-week high of $119.90 on Wednesday as traders look forward to the company’s upcoming earnings release on July 28. The company has beaten analysts’ EPS estimates soundly in each of the last two quarters, and expectations for the current quarter aren’t too high, with the consensus analyst EPS estimate at $0.23 per share. Shares of the stock are up by 31% year-to-date. Jim Simons‘ Renaissance Technologies more than doubled its stake in ABIOMED, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABMD) to 287,100 shares during the first quarter.

CME Group Profiting From Bull Market in More Ways Than One

Given the strong performance of the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and other equities, it isn’t surprising that CME Group Inc (NASDAQ:CME) made its 52-week high of $102.63 on Wednesday. Bull markets and increased volatility in commodities generally mean more trading volume, which leads to higher profits for CME Group. In addition to rallying by 13.4% year-to-date, the CME Group also pays a 2.36% dividend yield at current share prices. Of the 766 active funds that we track, 45 funds owned $977.48 million in CME Group Inc (NASDAQ:CME) positions on March 31, which accounted for 3.00% of the float.

On the next page we;’ll take a closer look at how Facebook, Exelixis, and Flextronics International came to reach their 52-week highs.

Facebook Pushes Past $120

Social media giant Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) recently rallied passed the $120 per share resistance level to hit an all-time high before pulling back. Given the company’s strength in mobile with Instagram and Whatsapp, and the addictiveness of Facebook proper, investors are increasingly confident that Mark Zuckerberg and Co will deliver the profits that the market expects in the future. Adding to Facebook’s attractiveness is the potential for further profit growth in the areas of artificial intelligence and virtual reality. Seeing as Facebook has had a string of top and bottom-line earnings beats in previous quarters, some traders are no doubt positioning themselves in the expectation of solid quarterly results being forthcoming. Facebook will announce its second quarter results on July 27. Of the funds in our system, 164 were long Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) at the end of the first quarter, up by 18 funds quarter-over-quarter.

Exelixis’ Momentum Continues

Although the iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (ETF) might be well off from its 52-week high, Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) has recently found its stride, having more than doubled since April 1 to hit its 52-week high of $8.74 per share. Traders are bullish on the stock due to Exelixis’ CABOMETYX, which the FDA approved for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma in April. The results for the drug in terms of efficacy have proven to be quite good. 17 funds that we track owned shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) at the end of the first quarter, unchanged from the end of the previous quarter.

Flextronics Reaches Leet Price

Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX) shares recently surged to a 52-week high of $13.37 before pulling back as some traders buy on valuation purposes. Shares of the company trade for only 9.72-times forward earnings estimates. Also adding to the bullishness is momentum; Flextronics shares are above key technical moving averages and have rallied by 18% year-to-date. The number of funds in our database with holdings in Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX) fell by one quarter-over-quarter to 25 as of the end of March.

Disclosure: None