It's 2018 forecast time for the big banks. With Goldman unveiling its seven Top Trades for 2018 earlier, overnight it was also UBS' turn to reveal its price targets for the S&P in the coming year, and not surprisingly, the largest Swiss bank was extremely bullish, so much so in fact that its base case is roughly where Goldman expects the S&P to be some time in the 2020s (at least until David Kostin revises his price forecast shortly). So what does UBS expect? The bank's S&P "base case" is 2900, and notes that its upside target of 3,300 assumes a tax cut is passed, while its downside forecast of 2,200 assumes Fed hikes in the face of slowing growth:
We target 2900 for the S&P 500 at 2018 YE, based on EPS of $141 (+8%) and modest P/E expansion to 20.6x.
Our upside case of S&P 500 at 3300 assumes EPS gets a further 10% boost driven by a 25% tax rate (+6.5%), repatriation (+2%) and a GDP lift (+1.6%), while the P/E rises by 1.0x. Downside of 2200 assumes the Fed hikes as growth slows, the P/E contracts by 3x and EPS falls 3%. Congress is motivated to act before midterm elections while the Fed usually reacts to slower growth; so we think our upside case is more likely.
Why is UBS' base case so much higher than what most other banks forecast? According to strategist Keith Parker, the reason is a "Valuation disconnect": Higher rates are priced in, while higher expected growth is not. He explains:
We model the S&P 500 P/E based on select macro drivers. The S&P P/E is 5x below the model implied level, which points to solid returns. More specifically, the 2.8% Fed rate target is priced in (worth 1.3x) but higher analyst expected 3-5yr growth is not (worth 3.7x). The P/E has been 2-4x above the implied level at the end of each bull market and the model has been a good signal for forward S&P returns (20-25% correlation). High-growth (most expensive) and deep-value (cheapest) stocks are cheap on a relative basis; the price for perceived safety is high. We focus on risk-adjusted growth + yield.
On the earnings side, this is how UBS bridges its 2018 rise to 141:
Following the 2014-16 earnings recession, S&P 500 EPS returned to growth in 2017 on the back of improved economic momentum globally, a commodity recovery, and rising margins. While a tax plan would significantly impact our growth assumptions, our base case EPS forecast excludes any tax upside given the degree of legislative uncertainty.
For 2018, we expect the earnings recovery to continue and forecast 8.3% EPS growth, driven by solid economic growth, offsetting margin drivers and higher interest rates. To control for the volatility and different drivers for certain sectors, we model financials and energy separately, with a buyback tailwind applied at the index level (1% assumed in 2018).
We forecast S&P ex Financials & Energy earnings to grow 7% in 2018. Top-line growth is a function of 2.2% US real GDP and 3.8% RoW GDP growth, a relatively stable USD, and slightly higher growth in intellectual property products ("IPP" or tech) plus business equipment spending (less structures spending). Margins are adversely impacted by rising unit labor costs of 1.9% and boosted by a 1% improvement in productivity, with a negative net effect. Finally, flat US GDP growth means that earnings do not benefit much from operating leverage.
We expect Financials earnings to grow 7%, with return on assets improving on the back of a rising 3m Libor rate to 2.2% by YE 2018, two Fed hikes in 2018, a stable financing spread (delta between total bond market and Financials OAS spreads) and no rise in delinquencies (modelled using change in unemployment). Asset growth is estimated using a beta of 1.35 to US real GDP growth.
We expect Energy sector earnings to continue to rebound, growing 28%. Energy accounts for less than 4% of total projected S&P 500 net income. Given the inherent volatility in earnings over recent years, we model sales growth as a function of oil and natural gas, which explains 97% of the sector's top-line growth. We assume that margins recover as D&A and other overhead is leveraged
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