Morningstar, a major fund rating agency, divides 11 major sectors into three super sectors based on each industry's characteristics:
1. Cyclical stocks: sectors that are highly sensitive to business cycles, including consumer discretionary, raw materials, financial services, and real estate
2. Sensitive stocks: sectors that are moderately sensitive to economic ebbs and flows, including communications, technology, energy, and industrials
3. Defensive stocks: sectors that can maintain growth against economic recessions, including consumer staples, healthcare, and utilities
Per MacroMicro’s analysis, the ranking of P/E ratio and dividend yield of the three super sectors of the S&P 500 over the past 10 years is as follows: * P/E ratio: Cyclical > Sensitive > Defensive * Dividend yield: Defensive > Sensitive > Cyclical
Legends
Price-to-Earnings Ratio (horizontal axis): Stock price / Cumulative earnings per share (EPS) over the past 12 months The indicator measures whether a stock is priced reasonably or if it is cheap or expensive. For this indicator, the upper limit displayed in the chart is 50.
Dividend Yield (vertical axis): (Dividend per share over the past 12 months / Stock price)*100% This metric measures the annual dividend returns investors can get back from their investment. The upper boundary of the chart is set at 10%.
The dotted lines represent the long-term average P/E ratio and dividend yield of the MSCI World Index, which is 20x and 2% respectively.
Note: When looking at P/E ratios and dividend yields, other factors such as industry characteristics, historical values, growth potential, and opportunity cost (e.g., bond yield) should also be considered. A low P/E ratio sometimes suggest the market does not fully appreciate the industry's value. And although a high dividend yield means decent dividend payments, if the share price falls below the stock's purchase price, the price decline could offset the dividends and result in a net loss. Therefore, it is important to consider other factors.