The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500) is the most commonly used benchmark for determining the state of the overall economy. Many investors also use the S&P 500 as a benchmark for their individual portfolios. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) used to be the main gauge of economic health for the U.S., but that index only contains 30 companies and is limited in the sectors it represents. The S&P 500 has become the leading stock index due to its broader scope. Many hedge funds compare their annual performance to the S&P 500—seeking to realize alpha in excess of the index’s returns.
Key Takeaways
- The S&P 500 is largely considered an essential benchmark index for the U.S. stock market.
- Composed of 500 large-cap companies across a breadth of industry sectors, the index captures the pulse of the American corporate economy.
- Limited to just large-caps, however, the index misses the much large swath of mid- and small-cap stocks that make up most of economy.
- As a market-cap weighted index, this benchmark also gives disproportionate weight to the largest companies, which thus make up the bulk of the index.
Advantages of Using the S&P 500 as a Benchmark
The key advantage of using the S&P 500 as a benchmark is the wide market breadth of the large-cap companies included in the index. The index can provide a broad view of the economic health of the U.S.
In addition to its broad scope, another advantage of the S&P 500 is that components of the index are updated on a quarterly basis. A committee determines which companies to include in the index. The factors considered include a market capitalization in excess of $13.1 billion, a public float of at least 50%, headquarters in the U.S., adequate liquidity and financial viability.
Companies must have traded for at least 12 months after their initial public offerings (IPO) before being considered for inclusion in the index. By updating the index components, the index can accurately reflect the state of the large-cap market.
Disadvantages of Using the S&P 500 as a Benchmark
There are also some disadvantages to using the S&P 500 as a benchmark for individual portfolio performance. Most investors are widely-diversified in assets other than stocks, such as bonds, precious metals and cash—the values of which are not reflected in the S&P 500.
Also, the index contains only larger market cap companies from the U.S. In contrast, investors may own small-cap or foreign companies in their portfolios. Using the S&P 500 as a benchmark may be an inaccurate measure of portfolio return for individual investors.
Another drawback to using the S&P 500 for benchmark purposes is that the index is disproportionately weighted toward larger companies. The top 10 holdings, which include some of the largest companies in the world—Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon.com (AMZN), etc.—make up almost 30% of the S&P 500.
The S&P 500 uses a weighted market capitalization for its construction. The index takes the number of shares multiplied by the current market share price to determine the market capitalization for each company. All the market capitalizations are then added together and then divided by a number known as the index divisor. The result of that calculation is the index value.