I love bargain stocks, especially when they're hitting 52-week lows. Still, it can be instructive to also look at stocks that are riding high.

For one thing, they can make good sell candidates. More optimistically, we may be able to find a few companies that can continue their upward climbs.

In this series, I'll be searching industry-by-industry for stocks reaching 52-week highs. That way, we'll be able to make a few quick comparisons among semi-related companies.

There are 24 industry groups as defined by the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS). Automobiles and components is one of them.

Below are the top seven companies in this space (by market cap) that are within spitting distance of their 52-week highs.

Company

Recent Price

52-week Low

52-week High

P/E Ratio (Trailing)

Ford Motor (NYSE: F)

$14.15

$6.81

$14.57

8.3

Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI)

$34.74

$23.60

$35.77

16.8

Magna International (NYSE: MGA)

$89.55

$39.00

$91.47

22.7

Autoliv (NYSE: ALV)

$71.00

$33.10

$71.53

17.4

BorgWarner (NYSE: BWA)

$54.27

$29.70

$54.99

27.9

TRW Automotive (NYSE: TRW)

$45.40

$14.90

$45.86

8.7

Lear Corp. (NYSE: LEA)

$84.66

$50.50

$87.46

3.4

Source: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's. Data as of Oct. 25.

I was very impressed with Ford when I saw its CEO Alan Mulally speak at the Washington Auto Show press conference this year. I said then that I was waiting for a dip in the stock price. It hasn't really come. It's still on my watchlist because I believe in the Ford turnaround as long as engineer-turned-CEO Mulally is there.

One other thing to note is Lear's too-good-to-be-true P/E ratio of 3.4. The multiple is a byproduct of accounting due to emerging from bankruptcy. Its forward P/E ratio is a more believable 14.9.

For a list of the automotive 52-week lows, click here.

If you are interested in reading more about these stocks, add them to My Watchlist to find all of our Foolish analysis on them.