Assessing the Financial Performance of the Companies that Shape the S&P 500 Index

Abstract

Our research focuses on the financial performance of the companies that shape the S&P 500, the US stock market index. We have chosen this index because it reflects the performance of the largest US companies. It is seen, by many, as an indicator of the performance of the US economy. We examine corporate data for the period 2015-2019, which are publicly available. The performance of the companies included in the study was assessed using statistical methods, which also include a sector-specific assessment for this period. The sectors we have selected represent a relevant volume in terms of the number of enterprises in the sample. Our hypothesis is that the performance of each sector has contributed to the average performance of the enterprises that constitute the index, in terms of the five-year enterprise performance in a different proportion. An important area of our research was to examine and demonstrate how the values of the key indicators, that we identified for the study, varied individually and whether they showed significant differences between sectors. Everyone is aware of the most recent events and, unfortunately, their consequences. At both the macro-and micro-levels, the corona virus has had a significant impact, which has also affected the performance of many companies. In our analysis, we will also look at how the financial performance for the period 2016-2019, influenced the value of the operating results for the companies under review in 2020. © 2023, Budapest Tech Polytechnical Institution. All rights reserved.