At the start of 2009, 11 Wall Street strategists polled by Bloomberg came up with an average price target of 1,056 for the S&P 500 at the end of the year.  This translated into an average estimated gain of 16.9% in 2009.  Unfortunately, the strategists lowered their year-end price targets significantly as the market collapsed in the first quarter, and then they had to play catch up as the market charged higher after the March bottom.  The S&P 500 is currently trading just 3% above the 1,056 price target, so strategists did a pretty good job with their initial estimates.  They should have just stuck to their guns.

So far 8 strategists have released their 2010 S&P 500 price targets (from the weekly Bloomberg survey), and all of them are expecting a gain next year from current levels.  Oppenheimer has the highest price target at 1,300, while Credit Suisse has the lowest at 1,125.  The average price target is 1,226.25, which implies a gain of 12.53% from here.

Subscribe to Bespoke Premium to receive more in-depth research from Bespoke.