2023 Market Prediction Contest | Seeking Alpha

New Article Competition: 2023 Market Prediction Contest

After a difficult 2022 for stock investors, with major U.S. indices suffering their worst losses in more than a decade, investors are eager to see what 2023 will bring. Seeking Alpha wants to deliver excellent broad market analysis to our readers, and is excited to introduce a prediction contest for the S&P 500 Index.

Competition: 2023 Market Prediction Contest (S&P 500)

For this competition, we are looking for discussion and analysis of broad U.S. Equity markets, along with a prediction for the S&P 500 Index at the end of 2023.

The thesis and main analysis should be fundamental in nature (technical analysis can only be presented as a secondary focus) and should be geared towards a time horizon that encompasses 2023.

The S&P 500 Index currently stands at about 4,000. On the strength of your assessments for the economy, corporate sales, profit margins, interest rates, and other key factors, where do you think the S&P 500 will close on December 31, 2023?

Contest winners will be objectively determined based on the 3 most accurate S&P 500 predictions.

Entry Period

The contest will start December 7th. Only articles published by Friday, December 30th, 2022, will be eligible.

Prizes

The 3 most accurate predictions for the closing S&P 500 level on December 31, 2023 will receive winning prizes as follows:

• First place: $1,500

• Second place: $1,000

• Third place: $500

*We don’t anticipate ties from these uniquely constructed forecasts, but in the case of a tie, whichever article was published first will prevail.

Contest Guidelines

All contest entries should conform to SA article submission guidelines. Articles should present analysis that is well-supported and detailed. Specifically, we’re looking for the following:

1. Qualitative discussion of the U.S. economy, inflation/interest rates, corporate sales growth, and profit margins. Coverage of other key market drivers is, of course, welcome.

2. Contributors should arrive at a 2023 profit forecast for the S&P 500 Index, supported by the research and analysis presented in the article. (Taking a Q4 2023 profit forecast and annualizing it is also acceptable).

2a. Contributors should arrive at a corresponding valuation multiple estimate.

3. A stated closing S&P 500 prediction for the end of 2023 should be calculated, based on the S&P 500 profit forecast and valuation multiple.

4. A presentation of the main risks to the forecast. Which variables/drivers are most uncertain. What economic or geopolitical developments could cause the S&P 500 to close substantially higher or lower than your forecast?

5. As with all Seeking Alpha articles, we encourage the use of images such as charts and tables, preferably sourced from our own website.

6. Set “SP500” as the Primary Ticker for your article, and “SPY” as a Secondary Ticker. Seeking Alpha editors may edit or add tagging.

*Maximum of 1 entry per contributor.

**Please note that we’re only accepting “Exclusive” articles for this competition.

Next Steps

Please submit your article as you normally would, via the submissions form. In the “Note To Editor” field please request that your article be considered for the “2023 Market Prediction Contest”. Without that note, your article won’t be entered in the contest. (and we won’t be able to retroactively register articles for the contest after December 30, 2022).

Important: All entries must be published by December 30, 2022. We suggest getting your article to us much earlier than that and allow sufficient time for possible feedback requests and edits.

Best of luck! If you have any questions regarding the contest, please contact the Contributor Success Team directly at contributors@seekingalpha.com.