A screen showing Wall Street’s favorite stocks in the S&P 500 includes familiar names, but a deeper look at the valuations shows they’re not all loved for the same reasons.
The next screen shows the stocks in the S&P 500 SPX that have the highest percentage of Buy or equivalent ratings among analysts surveyed by FactSet. The data is presented in two tables, which include valuations versus 2025 consensus estimates for earnings and revenue per share, as well as projected growth rates for these components.
We started by narrowing down the constituents of the U.S. large-cap benchmark index to 492 companies, tracked by at least nine analysts surveyed by FactSet. These are “sell-side” analysts – those who work for brokerage firms or for researchers who provide reports that brokers can share with their clients.
Of the 492 companies, these 10 have the highest percentage of Buy or Equivalent ratings among analysts surveyed by FactSet:
|
Company |
Ticker |
Buy Ratings for Stocks |
Price from December 10 |
Consensus price target |
Implied upside potential over twelve months |
Total return for 2024 through December 10 |
|
Axon Enterprise Inc. |
AXON |
100% |
$637.45 |
$606.92 |
-5% |
147% |
|
Delta Air Lines Inc. |
VALLEY |
96% |
$62.77 |
$78.22 |
25% |
58% |
|
Microsoft Corp. |
MSFT |
95% |
$443.33 |
$504.71 |
14% |
19% |
|
Amazon.com Inc. |
AMZN |
94% |
$225.04 |
$237.63 |
6% |
48% |
|
Nvidia Corp. |
NVDA |
92% |
$135.07 |
$172.97 |
28% |
173% |
|
Schlumberger Ltd. |
SLB |
91% |
$40.87 |
$57.04 |
40% |
-19% |
|
Micron Technology Inc. |
MU |
91% |
$98.10 |
$147.25 |
50% |
15% |
|
Walmart Inc. |
WMT |
90% |
$94.55 |
$98.88 |
5% |
82% |
|
GE Aviation |
GE |
90% |
$171.27 |
$212.93 |
24% |
69% |
|
Becton Dickinson & Co. |
BDX |
89% |
$221.44 |
$276.54 |
25% |
-8% |
|
Source: FactSet |
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You may have to scroll through the table to see all the data. Total returns for 2025 are in the right column and include reinvested dividends. Six out of 10 companies have had total returns this year that are higher than the 28.2% return for the entire S&P 500.
Let’s leave the companies in the same order, but with the S&P 500 added at the bottom of the table for comparison, and let’s take a look at the valuation ratios and projected earnings and revenue growth rates through 2025. The consensus estimates driving these numbers have been adjusted for the calendar. year for companies (such as Microsoft MSFT and Nvidia NVDA) whose financial years do not correspond to the calendar.
