Sotheby's Flirts With Record High

  • Shares are up 45% this year, outperforming the S&P 500
  • CEO Tad Smith’s revamp of auction house also driving gains

A Sotheby's exhibition in Hong Kong, China, on Nov. 26, 2010.

Photographer: Dale de la Rey/Bloomberg
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Sotheby’s climbed to the highest price since going public in 1988, a sign of investor optimism about the art market’s recovery and management led by Chief Executive Officer Tad Smith.

“There’s been a momentum at the very high end of the market,” David Schick, lead retail analyst at Consumer Edge Research LLC, said in an interview.