Adding VE Spice to an Analyst Consensus Dish

According to Bespoke Investment Group, these ten companies have the highest percentage of Buy ratings from the analysts that follow them. This table shows the number of analysts covering each stock and the number of buy and sell ratings as well as the percentage of buy ratings on the top 10 companies from Bespoke.

Also in the table is the achieved 5 year median sales growth and the VE Sales growth (Sales Growth expectations priced in to the stock at today’s price). Only the top 4 companies on the list - LO, PM, TMO, and AYE - have 100% buy ratings from all analysts. Of those four, only AYE has high expectations relative to what they have delivered in sales growth in the past. Six out of the twelve companies on the list - LO, PM, TMO, GOOG, COV, and BLL - have very realistic expectations for sales growth priced-in compared to what they have been able to achieve.

With the high percentage of buy ratings on these stocks they all deserve a more in-depth look, but the six with low expectations look especially worthy of consideration as potential investments.

S&P 500 Stocks with the Highest Percentage of Analyst Buy Ratings.

*denotes company only has 2 years of historical sales growth
**denotes company only has 3 years of historical sales growth

VE Sales Growth was calculated for these companies on 12/12/08.