How Can I Beat the S&P 500? What the Evidence Says
The honest answer to the most asked question in investing: how many people beat the index, why it is so hard, why investors trail even their own funds, and how daily market context fits in.
Everpure, Inc., technology (market value $39.2 billion), an S&P 500 member: how it compared with the S&P 500, how it behaved in every crash since 2008, its risk‑adjusted returns and what analysts said. Returns to Oct 30, 2026; analyst data as of Nov 9, 2026.
Exent re-checks this page every day. Ratings appear 30 days after they are published; the top‑ranked analysts’ calls are not counted here, they are in Gems.
What do the best‑ranked analysts on P say now? See it in Exent Gems →
Over the 5 years to Oct 30, 2026, Everpure, Inc. (P) returned +372.7% including dividends, versus +75.9% for the S&P 500 (SPY). It beat the index by 296.8 percentage points, or +36.4% a year against +12.0%.
| Period | P | S&P 500 | P per year | S&P 500 per year | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | +28.7% | +12.0% | +28.7% | +12.0% | Beat |
| 3 years | +275.6% | +87.4% | +55.4% | +23.3% | Beat |
| 5 years | +372.7% | +75.9% | +36.4% | +12.0% | Beat |
| 10 years | +929.0% | +316.3% | +26.3% | +15.3% | Beat |
Total return with dividends reinvested, from month-end prices to Oct 30, 2026. Beating the index on raw return is only half the story: the next section adjusts for the risk taken. See also how to beat the S&P 500.
P is in the S&P 500 (members as of Oct 20, 2026); the list shows every member’s return against the index.
In the 12 months to 30 days ago, 21 analysts published 252 ratings on P. Their latest calls were 90% Buy, 5% Hold and 5% Sell. 16 of them rank 4★ or higher in Exent’s analyst scoring, which is based on each analyst’s past price‑target hit rate and returns.
The consensus 12‑month price target was $141.47 (range $80.00–$215.00), +38.7% from the last price. Remember that the average analyst’s target is hit only about half the time: how accurate are price targets?
| Top‑ranked analyst covering | Firm | Stars | Price‑target hit rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| ??? | ??? | 5.0★ | 73.5% |
| ??? | ??? | 5.0★ | 63.0% |
| ??? | ??? | 5.0★ | 66.6% |
| ??? | ??? | 5.0★ | 65.7% |
| ??? | ??? | 5.0★ | 56.1% |
Other analysts covering P: Howard Ma · Param Singh · Erik Woodring · Matthew Calitri
Ratings are shown with a 30‑day delay. Who the top‑ranked analysts on P are, their live calls and the median target of only the top‑rated analysts are in Exent Gems.
The average analyst’s target is reached about 53.1% of the time; Exent Gems is built on the top 50 of Exent’s ranking,where some reached 90% or more over the last two years. Unlock the top 50 analysts.
P beat the S&P 500 in 7 of the 9 full calendar years shown.
| Year | P | S&P 500 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (to Oct 30, 2026) | +89.5% | +11.7% | +77.8% |
| 2025 | +9.1% | +17.7% | −8.6% |
| 2024 | +72.3% | +24.9% | +47.4% |
| 2023 | +33.3% | +26.2% | +7.1% |
| 2022 | −17.8% | −18.2% | +0.4% |
| 2021 | +44.0% | +28.7% | +15.3% |
| 2020 | +32.1% | +18.3% | +13.8% |
| 2019 | +6.4% | +31.2% | −24.8% |
| 2018 | +1.4% | −4.6% | +6.0% |
| 2017 | +40.2% | +21.7% | +18.5% |
Over 5 years, P had a Sharpe ratio of 0.79 against 0.58 for the S&P 500, so it earned more return per unit of risk than the index. Its annualized volatility was 50.0% and its beta 1.42: it tended to move about 1.4× as much as the market.
| Metric | P | S&P 500 |
|---|---|---|
| Annual return | +36.4% | +12.0% |
| Volatility (annualized) | 50.0% | 15.5% |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.79 | 0.58 |
| Sortino ratio | 1.52 | 0.91 |
| Max drawdown (month-end) | −40.2% | −23.9% |
| Beta to the S&P 500 | 1.42 | 1.00 |
P was not trading through the earlier crises, so only its recent drawdowns are shown.
| Window | P max drawdown |
|---|---|
| Last 1 year | −42.3% |
| Last 3 years | −48.6% |
| Last 5 years | −48.6% |
| Last 10 years | — |
Peak‑to‑trough declines from daily prices inside each crisis window. A crash replay does not predict the next crisis; it shows how much room a holding needs. Run the same replay on a whole portfolio with the crash test.
Correlation runs from −1 (moves opposite) to +1 (moves in lockstep). Over the last 60 months of monthly returns, P’s correlation with the S&P 500 was 0.44, with the Nasdaq‑100 0.54, with long Treasuries (TLT) −0.05 and with gold (GLD) −0.10.
Adding a 5% P position to an S&P 500 portfolio would have moved its 5‑year volatility from 15.5% to 15.9%.
| Least correlated large caps | Correlation | Most correlated large caps | Correlation |
|---|---|---|---|
| PM | −0.29 | ANET | 0.48 |
| VZ | −0.27 | NVDA | 0.46 |
| XOM | −0.23 | AMZN | 0.45 |
| SO | −0.21 | TSLA | 0.45 |
| COP | −0.21 | AVGO | 0.43 |
Holdings that are highly correlated behave like one position in a selloff. See how to find hidden overlap.
| Date | Rating and target | Analyst |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 11 | Target raised Buy | Howard Ma |
| Oct 8 | Target raised Buy | Matthew Calitri |
| Sep 25 | Target raised Buy | Joseph Cardoso |
| Sep 24 | Target raised Buy | Erik Woodring |
| Sep 24 | Target raised Buy | James Fish |
| Sep 24 | Target raised Buy | Eric Martinuzzi |
| Sep 24 | Target raised Hold | Tim Long |
| Sep 24 | Target raised Buy | Matthew Calitri |
Named analysts’ rating and price‑target changes on P in the 5 weeks to Oct 12, 2026, shown 30 days after publication (the free analysts’ calls 3 days after). The top‑ranked analysts’ calls are in Exent Gems. See all of the latest analyst upgrades and downgrades.
Of the 425 analyst price targets on P set from 2019 until a year ago, 80.7% were reached within 12 months (data to Oct 20, 2026), 12.1 points above the 68.6% hit rate of the median stock in Exent’s study of 794 stocks. Targets that were reached took a median of 91 days. The median target sat 23.6% above the share price on the day it was set.
Where analysts said P would be by now: a year ago, 5 analysts had a price target on P, and the median of their latest targets was $110.00. On Oct 20, 2026 P closed at $126.43, 14.9% above it.
| After | Calls | Move on the call | 3 months vs S&P 500 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upgrades of P | 18 | +5.0% | +2.3% |
| Upgrades, all stocks | 11,514 | +2.5% | +3.4% |
| Downgrades of P | 9 | −5.2% | −15.0% |
| Downgrades, all stocks | 10,700 | −3.0% | −1.6% |
The move on the call runs from the close before the rating change to the close after it; the last column is the stock’s return minus the S&P 500’s over the next three months. Averages of rating changes on P through Sep 15, 2026; analysts are not named here. Do analyst upgrades move stocks?
P beat the consensus earnings‑per‑share estimate in 11 of its last 12 quarterly reports, through the one on Aug 26, 2026, and the revenue estimate in 12 of 12. From the close before each report to the close after it, the stock moved 14.7% on average, up or down, against 6.8% for the average report across the 1,002 US stocks Exent tracks. It rose after 4 of the 12 reports. In 7 of the 11 beats the stock still fell.
| Report | EPS vs estimate | Revenue vs estimate | Stock move |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 26, 2026 | $0.70 vs $0.58 | +8.0% | −3.5% |
| May 27, 2026 | $0.47 vs $0.40 | +5.3% | −17.3% |
| Feb 25, 2026 | $0.69 vs $0.65 | +2.6% | −2.6% |
| Dec 2, 2025 | $0.58 vs $0.58 | +0.9% | −22.2% |
| Aug 27, 2025 | $0.43 vs $0.39 | +1.7% | +37.5% |
| May 28, 2025 | $0.29 vs $0.25 | +1.0% | −3.5% |
| Feb 26, 2025 | $0.45 vs $0.41 | +1.3% | −13.2% |
| Dec 3, 2024 | $0.50 vs $0.42 | +2.0% | +23.2% |
Reported earnings per share against the consensus estimate, revenue surprise in percent, and the stock’s price change over the two sessions around the report. How stocks move after earnings
In fiscal 2026 (the year to Feb 1, 2026), P’s largest reported region was the United States, with 67.3% of its $3.7 billion revenue. By region: United States 67.3%; Non-US 32.7%.
By business, the largest segment was Product, with 53.8% of $3.7 billion revenue (+16.0% on the year before).
| Segment | Revenue | Share | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product | $2.0 billion | 53.8% | +16.0% |
| Service | $1.7 billion | 46.2% | +15.1% |
From P’s annual filings; segment growth compares fiscal 2026 with the year before. Regions are as each company reports them, so one company’s “Asia Pacific” is not another’s. China counts the regions a company reports as China, Greater China or Hong Kong; a separately reported Taiwan is not counted. Which S&P 500 companies depend most on China?
As of Oct 20, 2026, 1 member of Congress had disclosed 1 trade in P (1 buy and 0 sales) in STOCK Act disclosures filed with the House and Senate. The latest public trade is dated Apr 27, 2026.
| Trade date | Member | Type | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 27, 2026 | Michael McCaul | Buy | $1,001–$15,000 |
Amounts are the ranges members report, not exact values. The STOCK Act gives members up to 45 days to disclose a trade, so trades appear weeks after they are made. See every member’s disclosed trades
One trade in P disclosed in the last 30 days is in Exent Radar.
In the 12 months to Oct 20, 2026, P insiders made no open‑market purchases and 181 sales, according to SEC Form 4 filings. The last open‑market purchase on record was on Mar 20, 2019.
After the 10 insider purchases of $10,000 or more since 2012, P lagged the S&P 500 by an average of 6.6 percentage points over the next 12 months; 30% of them were followed by a beat. Across all 17,865 insider purchases in Exent’s study, the average was +17.2% and the median +1.0% against the index.
| Date | Insider | Role | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 20, 2019 | Hatfield David | President | $0 |
| Jun 1, 2017 | Speiser Michael L | Director, 10 percent owner | $0 |
| Jun 1, 2017 | Sutter Hill Ventures | 10 percent owner | $0 |
| Jun 1, 2017 | Pullara Samuel J III | 10 percent owner | $0 |
| Jun 1, 2017 | Dyckerhoff Stefan A | 10 percent owner | $0 |
The table lists the latest open‑market purchases on record, leaving out the last 30 days. The chart counts Form 4 purchases and sales by calendar quarter. Purchases are open‑market buys; sales include planned sales under 10b5‑1 trading plans. Do insider buys beat the market?
As of the Sep 30, 2026 settlement date, 2.58% of P’s float was sold short: 8.2 million shares, or 1.0 days of average trading volume to cover. The median across the 997 US stocks Exent tracks was 4.77%, so P is less heavily shorted than most.
From FINRA short‑interest reports, filed twice a month; the bars show the short share of the float at each month‑end. Days to cover divides the shares short by the average daily volume. The most shorted stocks
P’s diluted share count rose 29.2% over the five fiscal years to fiscal 2026 and rose 1.0% in fiscal 2026 alone. Each share now owns a smaller slice of the company. The median change across the 1,005 US stocks Exent tracks was −0.1%.
Stock‑based compensation was $481.7 million in fiscal 2026, 13.1% of revenue. P did not buy back shares in fiscal 2026.
Weighted‑average diluted shares from P’s annual income statements; stock‑based compensation and buybacks from its cash‑flow statement. Stock dilution and stock‑based compensation, explained
In Exent’s Oct 20, 2026 snapshot, P’s Altman Z‑score was 7.83, in the safe zone (where 465 of the 794 non‑financial US stocks Exent tracks sit). Its Piotroski F‑score was 5 out of 9; 80% of scored stocks reach 5 or more.
The Altman Z‑score combines five balance‑sheet and earnings ratios into one bankruptcy‑risk score: below 1.81 is the distress zone, 1.81–2.99 grey, above 2.99 safe. It is not meaningful for banks, insurers and REITs. The Piotroski F‑score counts nine yes/no tests of profitability, leverage and efficiency; 8–9 is strong, 0–2 weak. Both come from the latest annual statements. Which stocks have the highest bankruptcy risk?
On its latest earnings call (Aug 26, 2026), P’s executives and analysts mentioned AI 26 times, against 25 on the call before (May 27, 2026); the average across 455 S&P 500 calls that quarter was 12.9. Tariffs and recession did not come up.
| Mentions | Aug ’26 | May ’26 | Feb ’26 | Dec ’25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI | 26 | 25 | 28 | 23 |
| AI agents | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Data centers | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 |
| Tariffs | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| China | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Recession | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Word counts in the full transcript of each call, prepared remarks and Q&A, newest first. “AI” also counts generative AI and large language models; “AI agents” counts agentic AI. Which companies talk most about AI?
As of Oct 20, 2026, 50 of the 304 ETFs Exent tracks held P. Its largest weight is in VBK (Vanguard Small-Cap Growth Index Fund ETF Shares), at 1.18% of the fund.
| ETF | Fund | Weight of P |
|---|---|---|
| VBK | Vanguard Small-Cap Growth Index Fund ETF Shares | 1.18% |
| IWP | iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF | 1.02% |
| VB | Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund ETF Shares | 0.52% |
| IGPT | Invesco AI and Next Gen Software ETF | 0.37% |
| GSLC | Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta U.S. Large Cap Equity ETF | 0.36% |
| IWR | iShares Russell Mid-Cap ETF | 0.29% |
| RSP | Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF | 0.26% |
| XLK | State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF | 0.25% |
Owning several of these funds stacks the same position. How much do VOO, QQQ and VTI overlap?
Charles Giancarlo, P’s Chief Executive Officer, received total pay of $14.1 million for fiscal 2025, down 61.7% from $36.7 million for fiscal 2024, according to the company’s proxy statement filed with the SEC on May 2, 2025. 86% of it came as stock and option awards, valued when they were granted rather than when they pay out. The median CEO pay across the 378 S&P 500 companies Exent tracks was $17.2 million, so P’s CEO earned less than most.
| Pay component | Amount | Share of total |
|---|---|---|
| Salary | $841,667 | 6.0% |
| Stock and option awards | $12.1 million | 86.4% |
| Incentive plan (cash) | $1.1 million | 7.5% |
| Other | $8,472 | 0.1% |
| Other top executives | Role | Total pay, 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Kevan Krysler | Chief Financial Officer | $6.7 million |
| John Colgrove | Chief Visionary Officer | $5.5 million |
| Ajay Singh | Chief Products Officer | $5.0 million |
| Dan FitzSimons | Chief Revenue Officer | $4.7 million |
Figures from the summary compensation table of the proxy statement; awards count at their grant‑date value, so one large multi‑year grant can make a single year stand out. CEO pay across the S&P 500
| Ticker | Name | 5‑year return | Volatility (5y) |
|---|---|---|---|
| AAPL | Apple Inc. | +135.9% | 28.0% |
| NVDA | NVIDIA Corporation | +704.3% | 51.1% |
| MSFT | Microsoft Corporation | +64.0% | 26.5% |
| AVGO | Broadcom Inc. | +570.0% | 44.7% |
| MU | Micron Technology, Inc. | +1,211% | 51.9% |
| AMD | Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. | +319.9% | 58.3% |
| PLTR | Palantir Technologies Inc. | +611.4% | 64.4% |
| ORCL | Oracle Corporation | +45.7% | 40.4% |
Returns are total returns from month‑end adjusted closing prices (dividends reinvested) through Oct 30, 2026. Crisis drawdowns and trailing maximum drawdowns use daily prices. Analyst coverage counts ratings published in the last 12 months, shown with a 30‑day delay. Full method: Exent methodology.
Company data as of Oct 20, 2026. The move around an earnings report runs from the close before it to the close after it; a price target counts as hit when the stock closed at or beyond it within 12 months (Exent analyst data). Revenue by region and segment, share counts and executive pay come from company filings; insider trades from SEC Form 4, short interest from FINRA, institutional ownership from 13F filings, Congress trades from STOCK Act disclosures filed with the House and Senate, federal contracts from USAspending.gov. Filings from the last 30 days are shown as counts only.
Past performance does not guarantee future results. Historical figures are calculated by Exent from market data and are for education only; they are not investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
Wall Street’s average P price target is 38.7% above the latest share price. See what the best‑ranked analysts on P say now in Exent Gems.
Yes. P returned +929.0% (+26.3% a year) over the 10 years to Oct 30, 2026, versus +316.3% (+15.3% a year) for the S&P 500, including dividends.
Yes. As of Oct 20, 2026, P (Everpure, Inc.) is one of the 503 stocks in the S&P 500.
Over the 5 years to Oct 30, 2026, P’s Sharpe ratio was 0.79 and its Sortino ratio 1.52, versus 0.58 and 0.91 for the S&P 500.
P’s 5‑year annualized volatility was 51.9%, higher than the S&P 500’s 17.0%, with a beta of 1.42.
Among large US stocks, the lowest correlations with P over the last 60 months were PM (−0.29), VZ (−0.27), XOM (−0.23). Its correlation with long Treasuries (TLT) was −0.05 and with gold (GLD) −0.10.
P beat the consensus earnings-per-share estimate in 11 of its last 12 quarterly reports through Aug 26, 2026, and the revenue estimate in 12 of 12. The stock moved 14.7% on average, up or down, from the close before each report to the close after it.
Charles Giancarlo, P’s Chief Executive Officer, received $14.1 million in total pay for fiscal 2025, including a $841,667 salary and $12.1 million in stock and option awards valued at grant, according to the proxy statement filed with the SEC on May 2, 2025. The median S&P 500 CEO received $17.2 million.
Yes. As of Oct 20, 2026, 1 member of Congress had disclosed 1 trade in P (1 buy and 0 sales) in STOCK Act disclosures filed with the House and Senate.
As of the Sep 30, 2026 settlement date, 2.58% of P’s float was sold short (8.2 million shares, 1.0 days to cover), according to FINRA short-interest reports.
Yes. P’s diluted share count rose 29.2% over the five fiscal years to fiscal 2026 and rose 1.0% in the latest year. Stock-based compensation was 13.1% of revenue.
Exent ranks Wall Street analysts by their track record. Gems shows who the top‑ranked analysts on P are, their latest calls and the stocks where several of them agree.
Educational content, not investment advice. Examples are illustrative; past performance does not guarantee future results.