Despite the wider stock market’s recovery still leaving it some way below its pre-crisis levels, some stocks in the FTSE 350 have hit record highs over the past month, especially in the healthcare and food sectors.

The largest company to hit this milestone is pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca (AZN), which recently £86.27 as it agreed to manufacture and distribute a coronavirus vaccine being developed by scientists at Oxford University.

The firm is one of just 11 in the FTSE 100 whose shares have risen so far in 2020, with its first quarter sales rising 16% year-on-year and earnings per share comfortably beating forecasts.

Another stock hitting an all-time high is food packing business Hilton Food (HFG), which has been trending upwards since its 2019 results (7 Apr) revealed double-digit growth in revenue and profit.

The company has also been able to carry on as usual during the current pandemic, with no impact on demand and its business continuity plans working well.

For similar reasons food producer Cranswick (CWK) has also been a strong performer over the past month, though it is down a little from its own record high hit in February.

It’s not just food and healthcare which have seen strong investor demand. Defence equipment and tech supplier Avon Rubber (AVON) is another in the FTSE 350 to have surged to an all-time high, having bagged a contract at the end of March with a US military agency potentially worth up to $333m over the next three and a half years.

Stockbroker Peel Hunt notes the specialist in respiratory protection equipment should benefit from increased usage of this type of kit in the wake of the coronavirus.

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