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 12,733 ratings on stocks in the S&P 500. Of these ratings, 58.2% are Buy ratings, 36.5% are Hold ratings, and 5.3% are Sell ratings. The percentage of Buy ratings is above its 5-year (month-end) average of 55.6%, while the percentage of Hold ratings is below its 5-year (month-end) average of 38.7% and the percentage of Sell ratings is also below its 5-year (month-end) average of 5.6%.
It is interesting to note that if 58.2% is the final percentage of Buy ratings for the month, it will mark with highest (month-end) percentage of Buy ratings going back to at least 2010. Prior to the past few months, the previous record-high (month-end) percentage of Buy ratings was 57.5% in February 2022.
At the sector level, analysts are most optimistic on the Information Technology (68%) and Communication Services (64%) sectors, as these two sectors have the highest percentages of Buy ratings. On the other hand, analysts are most pessimistic on the Consumer Staples (43%) sector, as this sector has the lowest percentage of Buy ratings. The Consumer Staples sector also has the highest percentage of Hold ratings (47%) and the highest percentage of Sell ratings (9%).
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 on page 5 of the Earnings Insight report. Five of the companies with the highest percentages of Buy ratings are in the Information Technology sector. NVIDIA is the only “Magnificent 7” company in the top 12 for highest percentage of Buy ratings.
After falling to 55.8% at the end of July 2025, the percentage of Buy ratings for the S&P 500 has increased to 58.2% today. Eight of the eleven sectors have seen an increase in their percentage of Buy ratings during this period, led by the Materials (to 61.2% from 55.3%) sector.
The FactSet Earnings Insight report is being published one day early this week on March 19. The next edition of the report will be published on March 27.
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