# S&P 500 Growth / Value Methodology Explained

The standard S&P 500 Growth and S&P 500 Value indices are style subdivisions of the S&P 500 parent universe. They should not be modeled as two mutually exclusive baskets. Securities can receive partial allocation to both styles, which allows the style series to represent the full parent universe without forcing every company near the style boundary into an all-or-nothing classification.

Growth factors

The Growth index evaluates growth characteristics using sales growth, the ratio of earnings change to price, and momentum.

Value factors

The Value index evaluates value characteristics using book value to price, earnings to price, and sales to price.

Why the same security can appear in both

A security with mixed style characteristics can receive a non-zero allocation to both indices. This is why Apple, Amazon and Tesla can appear among prominent holdings of both style-tracking portfolios at the same time. A style label is therefore a portfolio-construction classification rather than a plain-English judgment that a company is “a growth company” or “a value company.”

Current family counts used for implementation

State Street reported 148 securities in the S&P 500 Growth benchmark and 437 securities in the S&P 500 Value benchmark in its September 11, 2026 index characteristics. The working S&P 500 parent snapshot in this package contains 503 securities. Under the standard methodology, the pair spans the parent universe, so the counts imply 82 securities with non-zero representation in both styles at that snapshot (148 + 437 - 503 = 82).

Those counts are time-sensitive. The live site must store the official constituent allocation and effective date rather than hard-coding the count in evergreen prose.

Implementation rule

Store style membership as data:

  • Growth member flag;
  • Value member flag;
  • Growth allocation factor;
  • Value allocation factor;
  • Growth index weight;
  • Value index weight;
  • effective date;
  • prior classification;
  • source.

The company dossier remains canonical regardless of style allocation.

References

  • S&P Dow Jones Indices, S&P 500 Growth.
  • S&P Dow Jones Indices, S&P 500 Value.
  • S&P U.S. Style Indices Methodology.
  • State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Growth ETF benchmark characteristics, September 11, 2026.
  • State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Value ETF benchmark characteristics, September 11, 2026.