S&P 500 may reach 7,400 as boom plays out, says strategist Bartels
Sanctuary Wealth chief investment strategist Mary Ann Bartels sees the S & P 500 climbing more than 20% in 2025, with optimism surrounding technological advancements underlying her bullish case. The broad market index will rally to between 7,200 and 7,400 next year, Bartels estimates. The high end of her forecast is roughly 22% above where the S & P 500 closed Monday. “Tech and tech-related stocks continue to be the leadership in the market that will drive it higher,” Bartels told CNBC’s ” Power Lunch ” on Monday. Leadership within the technology sector is shifting to software stocks from semiconductor companies, she said, highlighting Salesforce as a top pick in the space. Although price-to-earnings ratios remain elevated across the broader market, Bartels believes the equities are in a secular bull market — during which P/E multiples can expand, she said. The investor, who spent 21 years at Bank of America before joining Sanctuary Wealth, believes that the current market bullishness is similar to two other periods: the internet-led rally from 1995 to 2000, and the automobile revolution and ensuing bull market of the 1920s. Bartels acknowledged that both those bull markets ended badly; the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, while the Roaring ’20s came to an end with the crash of 1929, which ushered in the Great Depression. “The one risk we do have is that both scenarios didn’t end pretty,” Bartels said. “But from now to the end of the decade, we could have extraordinary returns.” With this in mind, “any pullback in the market is still a buying opportunity,” Bartels added. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.