Which 52-Week-High Stock Will Outperform? (SI, MCD, AZN, MO, DE)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- A roster of stocks hit fresh 52-week highs on Monday. By market cap, the largest companies to reach fresh heights were blue chips Siemens (NYSE: SI), McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN), Altria Group (NYSE: MO) and Deere (NYSE: DE). Which will outperform in the second half of 2010?

First, let's consider what got each one to where it is today.

Reports surfaced last week that Germany-based conglomerate Siemens might make an acquisition bid for solar industry leader First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR).

Siemens has made itself a major player in the energy markets, including the U.S. energy market, and has dabbled in just about every alternative energy source, from wind to nuclear to solar. Siemens has arguably made the least in-roads with solar, though the Munich-based large cap did acquire solar thermal power company Solel Solar Systems in 2009.

An acquisition of First Solar would, however, catapult the multinational into a leading position in the solar market. Kaufman Brothers analyst Jeff Bencik said that it could make sense for Siemens to get into solar in a major way, at least from a position of pure logical speculation, through a takeover of First Solar, the biggest solar company.

Acquisition speculation led American depositary receipts of Siemens higher since the rumors surfaced last week. ADRs gained 1.5% from the close of trading on August 3rd, the day before the buzz began to circulate, to a 52-week high of $104.14 in morning trading Monday.

McDonald's shares, for their part, touched record highs Monday as strong demand for the company's Real Fruit Smoothies and Frappes led same-store sales to surge 7% in July.

The closely watched figure of same-store sales -- or sales at stores open at least one year -- easily topped analyst expectations for comps growth of 4.8%, and was the burger-and-fries chain's biggest monthly increase since April of 2009.

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