This signal counts every analyst rating change across the S&P 500 over a trailing 30 days and boils it down to one net number: (upgrades − downgrades) / total actions. Positive means analysts are turning more constructive as a group; negative means more cautious.
Example (illustrative): if over the last 30 days there were 60 upgrades and 40 downgrades across the index (100 actions total), the net shift is (60 − 40) / 100 = +0.20 — a modest bullish tilt. Reversed (40 up, 60 down) it would be −0.20. Normalising by the total number of actions keeps the reading comparable across busy and quiet weeks.
Analyst rating changes usually react to news, earnings, and price moves that have already happened, and the sell side structurally issues more upgrades than downgrades, so the net shift rarely leads a turn. Its value is confirmation and context — a broad, sustained wave of downgrades tells you the professional mood is deteriorating across the board. Quantustik folds it into the composite Market Conditions score, never a standalone trigger.
It is (upgrades − downgrades) / total rating actions across the S&P 500 over a trailing 30-day window. Positive means analysts are collectively more constructive; negative means more cautious.
Dividing by the total number of rating changes keeps the reading comparable across busy and quiet weeks — a +20 net difference means more from 40 actions than from 400.
Lagging. Analysts react to news and price moves that already happened, and the sell side skews toward upgrades. It works as confirmation and context, not a standalone trigger.
Browse all S&P 500 tickers to see this metric applied to individual companies.
Educational research only — not investment advice.