With the start of the second quarter approaching, where are analysts most optimistic and pessimistic in terms of their ratings on stocks in the S&P 500?
Overall, there are 12,320 ratings on stocks in the S&P 500. Of these ratings, 55.7% are Buy ratings, 38.7% are Hold ratings, and 5.6% are Sell ratings. The percentage of Buy ratings is above its 5-year (month-end) average of 55.0%. The percentage Hold ratings is below its 5-year (month-end) average of 39.1%. The percentage of Sell ratings is also below its 5-year (month-end) average of 5.9%.
At the sector level, analysts are most optimistic on the Energy (65%), Information Technology (63%), and Communication Services (63%) sectors, as these three sectors have the highest percentages of Buy ratings. On the other hand, analysts are most pessimistic on the Consumer Staples (41%) sector, as this sector has the lowest percentage of Buy ratings. The Consumer Staples (52%) sector also has the highest percentage of Hold ratings, while the Utilities (9%) sector has the highest percentage of Sell ratings.
The ten S&P 500 companies with the highest percentages of Buy ratings and Sell ratings (with a minimum of 3 ratings) can be found below. Three of the top ten companies with the highest percentage of Buy ratings are also “Magnificent 7” companies: Microsoft, Amazon.com, and NVIDIA.
After falling to 53.6% at the end of October 2024, the percentage of Buy ratings for the S&P 500 has increased over the past five months to 55.7% today. If 55.7% is the final percentage of Buy ratings for the month of March, it will mark the highest (month-end) percentage of Buy ratings for the index since August 2022 (55.8%).
The FactSet Earnings Insight report is being published one day early this week. The next edition of the report will be published on March 28.
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This blog post is for informational purposes only. The information contained in this blog post is not legal, tax, or investment advice. FactSet does not endorse or recommend any investments and assumes no liability for any consequence relating directly or indirectly to any action or inaction taken based on the information contained in this article.
Insight/Author%20Bios/JohnButters2.jpg)
Mr. John Butters is Vice President and Senior Earnings Analyst at FactSet. His weekly research report, “Earnings Insight,” provides analysis and commentary on trends in corporate earnings data for the S&P 500 including revisions to estimates, year-over-year growth, performance relative to expectations, and valuations. He is a widely used source for the media and has appeared on CNBC, Fox Business News, and the Business News Network. In addition, he has been cited by numerous print and online publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The New York Times, MarketWatch, and Yahoo! Finance. Mr. Butters has over 15 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to FactSet in January 2011, he worked for more than 10 years at Thomson Reuters (Thomson Financial), most recently as Director of U.S. Earnings Research (2007-2010).
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The information contained in this article is not investment advice. FactSet does not endorse or recommend any investments and assumes no liability for any consequence relating directly or indirectly to any action or inaction taken based on the information contained in this article.
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