The "Magnificent Seven" Are Still Growing Faster Than the Rest of the S&P 500. Here's When That Could Change, According to Wall Street Analysts.

Core Viewpoint - The "Magnificent Seven" stocks have significantly outperformed the S&P 500, but analysts are beginning to question the sustainability of this trend as earnings growth may slow down in the future [1][2][10]. Group Performance - The Magnificent Seven achieved an aggregate earnings growth of 27.7% in the first quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of 16.0% [4]. - Six out of the seven companies exceeded earnings expectations, with five growing faster than the average S&P 500 companies' growth of 9.4% [4]. Individual Company Performance - Amazon reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.59, exceeding expectations of $1.36, marking a 62% year-over-year increase [5]. - Alphabet's EPS was $2.81 against an expected $2.01, reflecting a 49% year-over-year growth [5]. - Meta Platforms achieved an EPS of $6.43, surpassing the expected $5.22, with a 37% year-over-year increase [5]. - Nvidia's EPS was $0.81, above the expected $0.75, showing a 33% year-over-year growth [5]. - Microsoft reported an EPS of $3.46, exceeding expectations of $3.22, with an 18% year-over-year increase [5]. - Apple had an EPS of $1.65, slightly above the expected $1.62, with an 8% year-over-year growth [5]. - Tesla's performance was notably weaker, with an EPS of $0.27, below the expected $0.41, reflecting a 40% year-over-year decline [5][6]. Sector Insights - Amazon and Alphabet demonstrated strong earnings growth driven by their cloud-computing segments, with Amazon Web Services growing sales by 17% and Google Cloud by 28% [7]. - Nvidia faced challenges due to restrictions on GPU sales to China but still reported strong earnings growth, which would have been 57% without certain write-offs [8]. Future Outlook - Analysts predict that while the Magnificent Seven will continue to outperform the broader market through 2025, challenges may arise in 2026 as growth rates could converge with the rest of the S&P 500 [10]. - The forecast for first-quarter 2026 indicates a 10.2% earnings growth for the Magnificent Seven, compared to 10.3% for the remaining S&P 500 companies [10]. Investment Strategy - Investors may need to be more selective among the Magnificent Seven, as valuation becomes increasingly important with slowing earnings growth [12]. - There may be more growth opportunities among smaller S&P 500 companies that are trading at fair value despite strong growth prospects [13]. - An alternative investment strategy could involve purchasing an equal-weight S&P 500 index fund to capture upside from smaller companies [14]. - As market dynamics shift, smaller companies may outperform the Magnificent Seven, which are starting to appear expensive relative to future earnings growth [15].