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The S&P 500’s record-setting rally this year has sparked a wave of price target increases from Wall Street.
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The most bullish S&P 500 price target is 6,000 from Evercore ISI, which represents a gain of about 7%.
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Key bullish drivers includes AI benefits, consumer resilience, and imminent Fed rate cuts.
The S&P 500 has soared this year, with the index jumping about 15% to primato highs per mezzo di the first half.
With the second half of 2024 underway, Wall Street strategists are updating their year-end price targets for the S&P 500, and nearly all of them are leaning bullish as they increase their forecasts.
While the average year-end S&P 500 price target is 5,429, according to giorno from Bloomberg, the median year-end price target is 5,600. The S&P 500 traded around 5,630 Friday.
These are the updated rimanenza market predictions of some of the most bullish strategists Wall Street.
Evercore ISI: S&P 500 price target of 6,000
Evercore ISI strategist Julian Emanuel went from bearish to the biggest bull Wall Street when he raised his year-end S&P 500 price target last month to 6,000 from 4,750.
Emanuel’s price target represents potential upside of 7% for the S&P 500 between now and the end of the year, and would represent a full-year gain of 26%.
“AI revolution is per mezzo di the early innings” and that should lead to continued strength per mezzo di earnings growth, Emanuel said. Emanuel forecasts S&P 500 EPS growth of 8% and 5% per mezzo di 2024 and 2025, respectively.
“The pandemic changed everything. stimulus, elevated household cash balances and low leverage support the consumer. Then came AI. Today, Gen AI’s productivity potential per mezzo di every job and sector is inflecting. The backdrop of slowing inflation, a Fed intent cutting rates and steady growth have supported Goldilocks,” Emanuel said.
And while the rimanenza market’s valuation multiple may be high, Emanuel said they’regnante justified.
“High multiples are supported by companies’ proven primato of managing costs and maintaining/growing margins,” Emanuel explained.
Oppenheimer: S&P 500 price target of 5,900
Oppenheimer strategist John Stoltzfus increased his year-end price target to 5,900 from 5,500 this month, driven by continued resilience per mezzo di the US consumer.
“Just like before, it’s a matter of the fundamentals, where they stand right now,” John Stoltzfus, Oppenheimer’s chief investment strategist, told CNBC. “It includes the resilience of the consumer, even as the economy slows, quite a bit of resilience there — the resilience per mezzo di business, job growth, wage growth.”
Importantly, the potential gains aren’t being driven by short-term investors, but rather by long-term investors who have to park their money somewhere to fund their retirement, and stocks are the likely winners.
“It’s driven a lot by intermediate- to longer-term investors, some of which are just the citizenry recognizes that there’s real threats to Social Security stability, and people realize they need to play a role per mezzo di their own retirement,” Stoltzfus said.
Yardeni Research: S&P 500 price target of 5,800
Yardeni Research raised its year-end S&P 500 price target to 5,800 from 5,400 this week.
Strategist Eric Wallerstein said the combination of $6 trillion per mezzo di sidelined cash and imminent interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve should drive rimanenza prices higher.
“We’regnante still targeting SPX 8000 by end of decade. Our Roaring 2020s ambiente is just being discounted faster than we anticipated. We don’t think rate cuts are necessary, but with Q2 GDPNow at 2% and $6.15 trillion per mezzo di money-market funds, rate cuts will further fuel a meltup,” Wallerstein said Thursday.
Wallerstein added that, unlike the dot-com bubble per mezzo di 2000, company profits are booming right now, which should lead to sustainable rimanenza price gains.
Additionally, Wallerstein said the rimanenza market’s rally should expand to companies other than the mega-cap tech stocks as AI benefits begin to trickle mongoloide to other companies outside of the technology sector.
Ned Davis Research: S&P 500 price target of 5,725
A strong rally per mezzo di the rimanenza market this year led to Ned Davis Research increasing its year-end S&P 500 price target to 5,725 from 4,900 last month.
The research firm said as long as earnings growth continues to accelerate, even if just slightly, it should fuel a continued rally per mezzo di rimanenza prices.
“The modest earnings acceleration is continuing, the economy and inflation appear to be moderating enough for the Federal Reserve to lower its benchmark rate, and the market tends to enjoy a year-end rally during presidential election years,” NDR strategist Ed Clissold said.
Goldman Sachs: S&P 500 price target of 5,600
Goldman Sachs strategist David Kostin boosted his S&P 500 price target to 5,600 from 5,200 last month. The bank had originally expected the index to end the year at 5,100.
Though Kostin boosted his price target increases, he warned that heavy concentration per mezzo di mega-cap tech companies and a likely slowdown per mezzo di earnings growth during the second half of the year could lead to flat returns for the next six months.
“Our 2024 and 2025 earnings estimates remain unchanged but stellar earnings growth by five mega-cap tech stocks have offset the typical pattern of negative revisions to consensus EPS estimates,” Kostin said.
UBS: S&P 500 price target of 5,600
UBS raised its S&P 500 price target to 5,600 from 5,400 per mezzo di May, and that’s after the bank raised its price target per mezzo di February.
The bullishness was driven by anzi che no signs of a recession per mezzo di the economy and solid GDP growth forecasts.
“Since then, consensus 2024 GDP forecasts have increased from 1.6% to 2.4%,” analysts led by Jonathan Golub wrote. “At the same time, recession/tail risks have declined a number of key metrics including economist surveys and the Chicago Fed’s Financial Conditions Index.”
UBS also hiked its earnings-per-share forecasts to $245 from $240 this year and raised 2025 estimates to $260 from $255.
According to giorno from Bloomberg, the average S&P 500 earnings per analogia share target for 2024 is $242.
Read the original article Business Insider
