Live data · Updated hourly
S&P 500 Sector P/E Ratios
Current trailing P/E ratios for all 11 GICS sectors — compared to 5-year historical averages. See which sectors trade at a premium or discount at a glance.
How to use sector P/E ratios
What is a good sector P/E?
There's no universal answer — it depends on growth and rates. Technology typically trades at 20–30x because of faster earnings growth. Utilities and Financials trade at 12–18x because of slower, more predictable growth. The most actionable signal is how the current P/E compares to each sector's own historical average — not its absolute level.
Don't time the market with this alone
A low relative P/E can mean genuine value — or it can mean earnings are about to fall. Energy often looks cheap right before commodity prices collapse. Always pair sector P/E context with earnings growth expectations and macro outlook before tilting your portfolio toward a sector.
Use alongside earnings growth
The PEG ratio (P/E divided by earnings growth rate) adjusts for the fact that fast-growing sectors deserve higher P/Es. A sector with a 30x P/E and 25% EPS growth is cheaper than one with a 20x P/E and 5% EPS growth. Check the DCF Calculator to model intrinsic value for individual stocks within any sector.
Sector P/E varies structurally
Technology will almost always have a higher P/E than Utilities — this is by design, not a signal. What matters is whether each sector's P/E is high or low relative to its own history. That's what the “vs. Avg” column captures: how today's valuation compares to the past 5 years for that specific sector.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good sector P/E ratio?
There is no universal 'good' P/E — it depends on the sector's growth profile and interest rate environment. Technology and Consumer Discretionary typically trade at higher P/Es (20–30x) because of faster earnings growth. Utilities and Financials typically trade at lower P/Es (12–18x) because of slower, more predictable growth. The most useful signal is not the absolute level but how the current P/E compares to the sector's own historical average: a 15x P/E in Technology is cheap; a 15x P/E in Utilities is expensive.
Which S&P 500 sector has the lowest P/E ratio?
Financials and Energy historically trade at the lowest trailing P/E ratios among S&P 500 sectors — typically in the 10–16x range. This reflects slower earnings growth and higher cyclicality. However, P/E is less meaningful for Financials (where Price-to-Book is more standard) and can be distorted for Energy by commodity price swings that compress or inflate earnings in a single quarter.
How often is this sector P/E data updated?
The data is fetched from Yahoo Finance and cached for one hour. P/E ratios for sector ETFs change slowly intraday — they reflect the aggregate trailing 12-month earnings of all holdings, not daily price moves — so hourly updates provide a practical balance between freshness and API cost. The 'Last updated' timestamp on the dashboard shows the exact time of the most recent data pull.