Financials dominate BofA’s Beat Factor Top 10 for August

Investing.com -- Bank of America’s Beat Factor Top 10 list for August is heavily weighted toward financial stocks, with five companies from the sector making the cut.

KBC leads the list with the highest Beat Factor score, as BofA analysts’ earnings per share estimates for 2025 and 2026 are 10% and 12% above consensus, respectively.

Other financial companies in the Top 10 include DNB, Danske Bank (CSE:DANSKE), Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn), and BNP Paribas (OTC:BNPQY).

The list is rounded out with two consumer staples stocks (JDE Peet’s and Nestle (NSE:NEST)), two energy companies (TotalEnergies (EPA:TTEF) and Equinor), and one capital goods firm (Rolls Royce (LON:RR)).

New entries to the August Top 10 include KBC, JDE Peet’s, TotalEnergies, and Nestle.

BofA notes that DNB is Buy-rated by their equity analysts, while only 15% of consensus rates the stock a Buy.

Other stocks with significant differences between BofA ratings and market consensus include Buy-rated Equinor (24% consensus Buy rating), JDE Peet’s (31%), KBC (39%), and Deutsche Bank (47%).

On the negative side, the Beat Factor Bottom 10 list is dominated by industrials, with five companies from the sector: Sandvik, Epiroc, Alfa Laval, Vestas, and Wartsila.

The list also includes two consumer discretionary stocks ( Kering (EPA:PRTP) and H&M (ST:HMb)) and one each from tech (Ericsson (BS:ERICAs)), utilities (EDPR), and materials (UPM).

Sandvik has the lowest Beat Factor score, with BofA’s analyst estimates for 2025 and 2026 EPS both 12% below consensus.

BofA’s sector analysts project 15% upside potential for European stocks under their coverage over the next twelve months, compared to the consensus estimate of 12%.

They see the most upside relative to consensus in consumer discretionary (26% versus 18%) and industrials (15% versus 8%).

The Beat Factor Top 10 outperformed the Bottom 10 by 3.9% over the past month, bringing the total outperformance to 9.4% over the past six months and 78% since the inception of the Beat Factor in 2015.

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