CFRA Research sees more upside for the benchmark S & P 500 over the next 12 months, even if the risk of near-term profit taking looms. Chief investment strategist Sam Stovall raised his 12-month price target for the broad market index to 6,145, equating to a roughly 11.3% gain. The higher forecast implies a year-end target of 5,770 for the S & P 500, or a 4.5% uptick from Wednesday’s close for the benchmark. Stovall’s previous year-end S & P 500 target called for 4,940. Among participants in CNBC’s survey of market strategists , Evercore’s Julian Emanuel has the highest 2024 target on the broad-market index: He’s calling for 6,000. A combination of more stable supply-and-demand dynamics coupled with a widening of market gains supports the more bullish outlook, CFRA said. The forecast comes as the S & P 500 notched its best day since February on Wednesday, buoyed by heightened hopes for interest rate cuts in September from the Federal Reserve. .SPX YTD mountain The S & P 500 has advanced roughly 17% in 2024. “With an improving balance of our proprietary demand and supply indicators, along with supportive breadth/stock participation, the weight of evidence is consistent with a sustainable intermediate-term advance, where inevitable short-term pullbacks can be used as buying opportunities,” CFRA said in a Wednesday note. “With rotation and evidence of broad-based demand among the signs of a still healthy bull market — a descriptor rightly questioned as little as three weeks ago — it appears wiser to buy stocks rather than to sell them,” the firm added. In recent weeks, investors have been rotating out of the largest technology stocks that drove gains on Wall Street for much of the past year. The firm said this is a bullish indicator for the broader market. The small-cap Russell 2000 index has added 8% in 2024, a stark turnaround after a sluggish start to the year. The S & P 500 has a roughly 14% gain this year, compared to the Nasdaq Composite’s roughly 15% advance. “Despite the ever-present possibility of a near-term digestion of recent gains,” investors ought to “stay the course,” the CFRA note continued.
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