U.S. stocks have rallied fiercely since Thanksgiving, but the S&P 500 index is still 8% below its 2011 high, reached in May. The stocks listed below have done better. On Monday, they all hit new highs for the year.

That doesn't make these stocks expensive. In fact, they turned up in a search among large, mid-size and small U.S. companies for stocks that were both hitting new 2011 highs and selling for less than the S&P 500's price of 13 times forecast earnings.

Value investors can think of these three as modestly priced shares that happen to have gained of late. Momentum traders can think of them as recent risers that happen to still be cheap.

Humana

2011 Price-to-Earnings Ratio: 10

Humana (HUM) is the largest publicly traded health benefits company, with yearly revenues of more than $36 billion. It's also one of the largest providers of Medicare Advantage plans, whereby Medicare patients opt for service from private companies rather than the government. The recent failure of a congressional "super-committee" to achieve targeted budget cuts triggered automatic cuts to Medicare spending in future years.

But David Windley, who covers Humana stock for investment bank Jefferies & Company, called looming cuts "relative child's play" in a note last month to clients. Humana has survived worse threats to its bottom line in recent years, according to Windley, and the outlook in Washington, D.C., offers "more certainty now than in the last five years." Medicare Advantage is "increasingly viewed by friend not foe" by policymakers looking for savings. Humana's goal is to run its Medicare Advantage plans at a 15% savings to Medicare, with the extra funds used to reduce premiums and add benefits (thereby luring customers) and to bolster profits (thereby offsetting budget cuts).

The company has beaten earnings estimates by more than 30% in each of its past two quarters.

Lithia Motors

2011 P/E Ratio: 13

Lithia Motors (LAD) operates 86 U.S. dealerships in 11 states where it sells 28 new car brands and a variety of used car brands. Its stock was nearly totalled by the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, plunging to $2 and change. Since then it has recovered to more than $24. U.S. light vehicle sales hit a 27-year low of 10.4 million units in 2009, but have since rebounded and are on pace for 12.8 million this year. Analysts project sales of 13.5 million light vehicles next year.

Lithia's earnings per share are expected to double this year on a 26% increase in revenues. Last quarter the company bought two dealerships and sold one, reduced expenses as a percentage of gross profit, bought back shares and paid a dividend. It also projected that sales at longstanding stores would increase 9% next year.

Macy's

2011 P/E Ratio: 12

Macy's (M) November sales at longstanding stores increased 4.8% from a year earlier, beating Wall Street's 4.1% forecast. The company, with 850 stores under the Macy's and Bloomingdale's names, cashed in on general strength in Christmas shopping. Consumers spent 16% more on Thanksgiving weekend than a year earlier, according to the National Retail Federation. Macy's also reported a 50% jump in online sales.

Kenneth Stumphauzer, who covers the stock for Sterne Agee, an investment bank, wrote in a note to clients that Macy's is set up for a strong December, too. November was the most difficult comparison month for the year, he wrote, and an unseasonably warm Black Friday might have cut into sales of cold-weather clothing. Those sales should shift forward, he reckons, helping December's numbers. And compared with last year, December this year gets an extra shopping day before Christmas.