Wall Street’s Value Hunters Are Circling The Financial Sector Again

Value hunting in an expensive market keeps circling back to the same unglamorous corner — financial stocks. The S&P 500’s financial sector is flashing one of its most attractive entry points in years, with falling valuations pointing to a broad sector-wide value setup. The sector’s forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio now sits at 14.3, far below the broader S&P 500’s 21.4 multiple.

• Financial stocks are down 7% in 2026 even as rolling 12-month EPS estimates rose 5.7%, making valuations cheaper despite stronger profit forecasts.
• The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund is trading at just 60% of the forward P/E of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, far below its 15-year average of 75%.

Banking on value: JPMorgan ChaseJPM

, Bank of AmericaBAC

, VisaV

, MastercardMA

, Charles SchwabSCHW

, CitigroupC

, and Morgan StanleyMS

are all seeing profit expectations climb even as share performance lags. With tech and consumer discretionary names still trading above 25x earnings, Wall Street’s cheapest earnings growth may be sitting inside the bank vault.