By Ben Levisohn

The S&P 500 closed at a record high on Wednesday, but only 28 of the index's stocks closed at 52-week highs that day. Of those, 11 look ready to open higher on the day.

The winning stocks are led by Micron Technology, whose stock has gained 241% in 2025, has been one of the year's big winners as investors finally realized that AI requires huge amounts of its memory chips. Its stock was up 1.7%, at $291.67 in premarket trading on Friday as investors looked set to press those bets heading into the end of the year.

Lam Research was up 0.9% at $178.99 in premarket trading. The stock, up 146% in 2025, has been another big winner this year. Lam Research provides the tools that do the "etching" for memory chips, among other services, essentially allowing Micron and others to do what they do.

Other stocks that made the list include State Street, KLA, Marriott International, Morgan Stanley, Nasdaq, Bank of America, Electronic Arts, RTX, and Wells Fargo.

Why do we care? Because momentum is one of the best-performing factors in the market. Stocks that are strong typically stay strong, so by identifying the shares that are trading new 52-week highs, investors can find stocks that have the potential to keep going. For short-term traders, it's a way to find ideas to trade that day. For long-term investors, it can be a tool to help populate a watchlist.

Write to Ben Levisohn at ben.levisohn@barrons.com

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December 26, 2025 09:09 ET (14:09 GMT)

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