The war in the Middle East continues to impact equity markets. During the first seven trading days of April, hopes surrounding successful peace talks with Iran led to a 4.4-per-cent rally in the S&P 500 Index.
As of April 10, the top 10 performers in the S&P 500 Index month-to-date were:
- Intel Corp. (INTC-Q), up 41 per cent
- Sandisk Corp. (SNDK-Q), up 34 per cent
- SBA Communications Corp. (SBAC-Q), up 30 per cent
- Coherent Corp. (COHR-N), up 29 per cent
- Seagate Technology Holdings (STX-Q), up 28 per cent
- Ciena Corp. (CIEN-N), up 28 per cent
- Lumentum Holdings Inc. (LITE-Q), up 28 per cent
- Western Digital Corp. (WDC-Q), up 27 per cent
- Corning Inc. (GLQ-N), up 26 per cent
- Micron Technology Inc. (MU-Q), up 24 per cent
However, equity markets are expected to start off the new week in the red as optimism for a near-term peace deal fades after President Trump announced the U.S. military will block traffic at Iranian ports beginning on April 13.
This week, investors will also be digesting corporate earnings announcements with the first-quarter earnings season set to kick off. Quarterly earnings results may provide support to equity markets. According to an April 10 LSEG report, 61 companies have preannounced positive earnings compared to 56 companies that have issued negative earnings preannouncements. This is a significant improvement from last year when there were just 34 positive earnings preannouncements and 79 earnings warnings.
Earnings growth is expected to gain momentum. Year-over-year earnings growth is anticipated to come in at 19.3 per cent in 2026, up from 14 per cent in 2025. Year-over-year earnings growth is forecast to expand 13.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, 20 per cent in the second quarter of 2026, 22 per cent in the third quarter, 19.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2026 and 23 per cent in the first quarter of 2027.
According to LSEG, the forward four-quarter price-to-earnings multiple for the S&P 500 stood at 20.1 times, down from 21.6 times as of March 6.
Now, here’s a look at analysts’ target prices, recommendations, forecast returns and yields for all securities in the S&P 500 grouped by sector and ranked according to their expected price returns (excluding dividend and distribution income). The posted target price for each security is an average of all available target prices from analysts. A target price typically reflects an expected share or unit price 12 months from now based on an analyst’s financial modelling, such as a discounted cash flow or sum-of-the-parts model. Data is as of Fri. April 10.
It’s important to note that high target prices, which imply stellar returns that seem unbelievable may be just that - unrealistic. At times, when a stock price falls analysts may maintain their bullish expectations, inflating the forecast return. In addition, an outlier (extreme target price) can skew the average target price, to the upside or downside, particularly when the number of analysts covering a stock is low. Don’t let a huge projected gain lure you into a position – it is critical to look at the company and industry fundamentals.
Click here to download an Excel version of the report.