Some stocks evade bear, reach for highs

— -- Some stocks that saw the bear market are living to tell the story.

A small group of stocks are inching back to their all-time highs, and in some cases, to levels not seen since before the recession began.

The list is tiny. Just 11 stocks in the Standard & Poor's 1500 index are within 10% of their all-time highs, according to a USA TODAY analysis of data from S&P's Capital IQ.

The fact so few companies have regained their highs shows how badly damaged the stock market remains, says Jack Ablin of Harris Private Bank. We've gotten a bounce, he says, remarking on the S&P 500's 35% rise from its March low. "But you can see, we need a lot more," he says.

A few traits the recovering stocks have include: