Market Fair Value Update: Utilities Sector Looks Pricey

This is the Market Fair Value update for Friday, Nov. 24. The Market Fair Value shows how big of a gap, on average, we see between market prices and our estimate of intrinsic value across the entire market or a specific sector.

The current ratio for all rated stocks is 1.03. This indicates that the market is slightly overvalued. That compares to a 52-week high of 1.06 seen on Oct. 5 and a 52-week low of 0.97 reached on Aug. 24.

Valuations across sectors are quite uneven. The most overvalued sector is still utilities at 1.12--that's 12% above our estimate of intrinsic value. Utilities stocks have been driven up by, among other reasons, investors seeking income in the continued low-yield environment. The most undervalued sector is communications services at 0.90--that's 10% below our estimate of intrinsic value. Some of our top picks in the communications services sector include Comcast, BT Group, and KDDI Corp.