Comments on: S&P 500 Sports an Eye-Popping 134x P/E http://www.bearishnews.com/post/1299 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:38:35 +0000 hourly 1 By: tiresias http://www.bearishnews.com/post/1299/comment-page-1#comment-1889 tiresias Sat, 10 Jul 2010 15:46:15 +0000 http://www.bearishnews.com/?p=1299#comment-1889 where did you ever get 134X??? i have s&p's spreadsheet before me right now, and i see that june 30 2009's as reported was 122.41. it has precipitously dropped by the way. the following quarter was 84.3. december 2009 was 21.88. it is currently 16.22, which is not bearish at all. where did you ever get 134X???

i have s&p’s spreadsheet before me right now, and i see that june 30 2009′s as reported was 122.41. it has precipitously dropped by the way. the following quarter was 84.3. december 2009 was 21.88. it is currently 16.22, which is not bearish at all.

]]> By: oolaah | Consumers Still Broke, But More Confident http://www.bearishnews.com/post/1299/comment-page-1#comment-808 oolaah | Consumers Still Broke, But More Confident Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:57:49 +0000 http://www.bearishnews.com/?p=1299#comment-808 [...] noting that this rally has pushed the S&P 500 P/E ratio to 144 as of July 31 2009, up from 134 June 30. Everyone is hoping that consumers will drag us out of this, assisted by TALF. But giving [...] [...] noting that this rally has pushed the S&P 500 P/E ratio to 144 as of July 31 2009, up from 134 June 30. Everyone is hoping that consumers will drag us out of this, assisted by TALF. But giving [...]

]]> By: Consumer Confidence Sentiment, Debt, and Personal Income http://www.bearishnews.com/post/1299/comment-page-1#comment-797 Consumer Confidence Sentiment, Debt, and Personal Income Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:24:12 +0000 http://www.bearishnews.com/?p=1299#comment-797 [...] noting that this rally has pushed the S&P 500 P/E ratio to 144 as of July 31 2009, up from 134 June 30. Everyone is hoping that consumers will drag us out of this, assisted by TALF. But giving [...] [...] noting that this rally has pushed the S&P 500 P/E ratio to 144 as of July 31 2009, up from 134 June 30. Everyone is hoping that consumers will drag us out of this, assisted by TALF. But giving [...]

]]> By: Adam Sharp http://www.bearishnews.com/post/1299/comment-page-1#comment-525 Adam Sharp Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:01:42 +0000 http://www.bearishnews.com/?p=1299#comment-525 Thanks Dave. I'm familiar with forward and trailing, but S&P didn't specify what that 134 number was based on. Shoulda remembered that all trailing P/Es are based on 12 months. Thanks for clearing it up. Over the past few days I've been delving into the convoluted world of "operating earnings" vs. "reported earnings". Crazy stuff. Thanks Dave. I’m familiar with forward and trailing, but S&P didn’t specify what that 134 number was based on. Shoulda remembered that all trailing P/Es are based on 12 months. Thanks for clearing it up. Over the past few days I’ve been delving into the convoluted world of “operating earnings” vs. “reported earnings”. Crazy stuff.

]]> By: Dave Van Knapp http://www.bearishnews.com/post/1299/comment-page-1#comment-522 Dave Van Knapp Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:22:17 +0000 http://www.bearishnews.com/?p=1299#comment-522 S&P's calculation of its own P/E has been the subject of some controversy, too much to get into here. But to directly answer your question: The P/E that you cite (134) is not based only on Q2 2009 earnings. It is based on the last 4 quarters of "earnings" as calculated by S&P, divided by today's value of the S&P 500 index. Thus, it is a TTM (trailing twelve months) calculation. Using TTM for earnings, by the way, is standard practice for calculating P/E. Other P/E's, such as "Forward P/E," include estimates of earnings that have not been reported yet. The trailing P/E is based on numbers already reported. The reason I put the quote marks around "earnings" is that S&P manipulates and adjusts actual earnings to get the E number that they divide by. That is, that number is not the sum of earnings of the 500 stocks in the index. I have not been able to figure out how or why they do this, but it obviously affects the P/E that they report. S&P’s calculation of its own P/E has been the subject of some controversy, too much to get into here. But to directly answer your question: The P/E that you cite (134) is not based only on Q2 2009 earnings. It is based on the last 4 quarters of “earnings” as calculated by S&P, divided by today’s value of the S&P 500 index. Thus, it is a TTM (trailing twelve months) calculation. Using TTM for earnings, by the way, is standard practice for calculating P/E. Other P/E’s, such as “Forward P/E,” include estimates of earnings that have not been reported yet. The trailing P/E is based on numbers already reported. The reason I put the quote marks around “earnings” is that S&P manipulates and adjusts actual earnings to get the E number that they divide by. That is, that number is not the sum of earnings of the 500 stocks in the index. I have not been able to figure out how or why they do this, but it obviously affects the P/E that they report.

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