One of Wall Street’s most bullish firms is back at the drawing board—in the process of revising its price target on the S&P 500 Index.
However, it’s taking a lot longer than expected.
Back on June 26 on “Trading Nation,” Oppenheimer Asset Management’s John Stoltzfus said to expect a new price target within the “next three to five days.” He made the declaration after the S&P 500 blasted through his year-end target of 2,450 more than six months early.
Then the days came and went with no hike. So, what happened?
“We wanted to just get a real sense of how second-quarter earnings season would come out,” said Stoltzfus, the firm’s chief investment strategist, on Friday. “So far, so good, we’ve got to say. So we’re on the verge of coming up with our new target.”
The S&P 500, which is on pace for its best month since February, just broke its three-week win streak by a fraction of a percent. It closed the week at 2,472 — which is still above Stoltzfus’ 2,450 year-end price target.
“We’ve been sort of change pending,” he added.
Stoltzfus now expects to push the button by next week, keeping his bullish stance intact.
He points out economic fundamentals are improving both here and abroad. Plus, Stoltzfus sees corporate revenues and earnings giving the markets a boost in the second half of the year.
As for the bull market’s critics, he argued there aren’t any ‘expiration dates’ on how long rallies last. Stoltzfus said the only thing that could sour the rally would be the Federal Reserve raising interest rates too quickly, or a black swan event.
“We don’t see any black swan events that can interrupt the market right now,” he said.
Stoltzfus says investors — with the exception of the bears — should be “pleasantly surprised.”
Oppenheimer bull dismisses ‘expiration date’ on rally, says a new S&P target is only days away