Energy and Health Care Sectors Have Highest Percentage of Buy Ratings
Of the 11,169 ratings on S&P 500 companies at the end of 2014 (December 31), 49.4% were Buy ratings, 45.6% were Hold ratings, and 5.0% were Sell ratings. Overall, analysts are most optimistic about the Health Care (57%) and Energy (57%) sectors, based on the percentages of Buy ratings at the end of 2014. These two sectors finished the year tied for the highest percentage of Buy ratings. Over the past twelve months, the average percentage of Buy ratings for the Health Care sector has been 58% (which was the highest of all ten sectors), while the average percentage of Buy ratings for the Energy sector has been 56% (which was the second highest of all ten sectors). On the other hand, the Utilities sector continued to have the lowest percentage of Buy ratings (34%) of any sector. Over the last twelve months, the average percentage of Buy ratings for the Utilities sector has been 36%, which was the lowest average of all ten sectors. For more details on analyst ratings on the Energy sector, please see page 2 in our “FactSet Targets & Ratings” report at the following link: www.factset.com/targetsratings. Analysts are most pessimistic about the Utilities sector, based on the percentage of Sell ratings at the end of December. The Utilities sector had highest percentage of Sell ratings (10%) of all ten sectors. The average percentage of Sell ratings for the Utilities sector has been 8% over the past twelve months, which tied for the third highest average (with the Materials sector) of all ten sectors. On the other hand, the Health Care (2%) has the lowest percentages of Sell ratings.
