Buy the companies in this S&P index during these 'turbulent times'
Mar. 15, 2025 2:55 PM ET
By: Anuron Mitra, SA News Editor
With Wall Street going from record highs to correction territory in a matter of weeks, exchange-traded fund issuer ProShares believes investors can find comfort in buying companies with strong underlying fundamentals at lower prices.
U.S. President Donald Trump's aggressive trade war escalation has slammed market sentiment and has soured growth expectations for the world's biggest economy. The benchmark S&P 500 index ( SP500) slipped into correction territory this week.
"News related to tariffs, DOGE, geopolitical unrest, NVIDIA earnings, and more significantly impacted U.S. stock markets recently, with the S&P 500 retreating over 2.5% during the second half of February. There are signs that meaningful structural shifts are taking place in the market," Simeon Hyman, global investment strategist at ProShares, said on Tuesday.
"During such turbulent times, a wide variety of stocks that have been left behind may deliver short periods of outperformance. But for investors looking for sustained outperformance potential, companies that maintain strong fundamentals even when their stock prices lag could be a better opportunity—they become quality that’s on sale," Hyman added.
The strategist said the stocks in the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index "fit this bill."
Launched in May 2005, the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index tracks S&P 500 companies that have increased dividends every year for the last 25 consecutive years. The index has 69 constituents with a mean total market capitalization of $100.13B.
The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index is +1.05% YTD, outperforming the benchmark S&P 500's -4.13% retreat.
Here are the index's top 10 constituents by weightage, ranked by their Seeking Alpha Quant rating:
10. Nucor (NYSE: NUE), Quant rating 2.92, market cap $30.45B, stock +13.2% YTD.
9. Essex Property Trust (NYSE: ESS), Quant rating 3.06, market cap $19.66B, stock +3.4% YTD.
8. Eversource Energy (NYSE: ES), Quant rating 3.14, market cap $22.52B, stock +6.9% YTD.
7. Kenvue (NYSE: KVUE), Quant rating 3.17, market cap $43.60B, stock +6.8% YTD.
6. Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), Quant rating 3.37, market cap $297.46B, stock +11.1% YTD.
5. IBM (NYSE: IBM), Quant rating 3.37, market cap $230.29B, stock +13% YTD.
4. Brown & Brown (NYSE: BRO), Quant rating 3.39, market cap $33.80B, stock +15.9% YTD.
3. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Quant rating 3.41, market cap $391.98B, stock +12.6% YTD.
2. AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV), Quant rating 3.44, market cap $373.85B, stock +19.2% YTD.
1. Consolidated Edison (NYSE: ED), Quant rating 4.15, market cap $36.89B, stock +19.3% YTD.
Seeking Alpha's Quant system consistently outperforms the S&P 500 ( SP500), driven by powerful computer processing and SA's special 'Quantamental' analysis. It awards grades to stocks based on collective value, growth, profitability, earnings per share revisions, and price momentum metrics. |
