R&D Intensity

How much of revenue S&P 500 companies reinvest in research & development, which sectors actually spend on it, and whether heavier R&D spending shows up in faster revenue growth or better relative price performance.
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Companies Reporting R&D
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Of full S&P 500
Median R&D Intensity
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R&D ÷ revenue, trailing twelve months, R&D reporters only
Median Revenue Growth
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Year-over-year, trailing twelve months, R&D reporters only
Most R&D-Intensive Sector
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Median R&D as % of revenue

R&D intensity by sector

Median R&D spend as a % of trailing-twelve-month revenue, by SPDR sector — sectors with too few R&D-reporting constituents are omitted
Most Financials, Real Estate, Utilities, and many retailers don't break out a research & development line at all — they're excluded from this page entirely rather than treated as zero R&D spenders. See the methodology below.

Distribution of R&D intensity

Every R&D-reporting S&P 500 constituent, bucketed by R&D as a % of revenue

R&D intensity vs. revenue growth

Do heavier R&D spenders currently show faster revenue growth, or is there no such association?

R&D intensity vs. 3-month relative return

Does the market currently reward heavier R&D spenders with better relative price performance?

Highest R&D intensity

R&D as a % of trailing-twelve-month revenue
SymbolSectorR&D IntensityRev. Growth
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Fastest revenue growth

Among R&D-reporting companies only
SymbolSectorRev. GrowthR&D Intensity
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All R&D-reporting companies

Trailing-twelve-month R&D intensity and year-over-year revenue growth
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Symbol Sector R&D Intensity▾ Rev. Growth YoY▾
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Methodology

Universe is the full S&P 500. For every constituent, Alpha Vantage's INCOME_STATEMENT endpoint (quarterly) supplies the trailing eight quarters needed for a trailing-twelve-month (TTM) revenue and R&D spend, plus the prior year's TTM revenue for a smoothed year-over-year growth figure (rather than a single noisy quarter-over-quarter comparison). R&D Intensity = TTM R&D ÷ TTM revenue × 100. Revenue Growth (YoY) = (this year's TTM revenue − last year's TTM revenue) ÷ last year's TTM revenue × 100.

A company is included only if it reports a research & development figure in all of the trailing four quarters. That's a real, deliberate scope limitation, not a data-quality problem: most Financials, Real Estate, Utilities, and many retailers and industrials simply don't break out an R&D line at all, because formal R&D isn't how those businesses compete or invest. This page's coverage skews toward Information Technology, Health Care (pharma and biotech in particular), and Communication Services — sectors where R&D spending is a core, comparable line item — and that skew is the finding, not an artifact to correct for.

The two regression tests are single-snapshot cross-sections (no accumulated history needed, unlike a forward-return test): R&D intensity vs. revenue growth asks whether heavier current R&D spenders show faster current revenue growth — a contemporaneous association, not a claim that today's R&D spend causes or predicts tomorrow's growth, since R&D typically takes years to show up in the income statement. R&D intensity vs. 3-month relative price return (reusing Relative Strength Leaders/Laggards' own weekly price data rather than a second price sweep) asks whether the market is currently rewarding heavier spenders with better relative performance. Both use the same Pearson-and-Spearman two-method check as Factor Analysis.

One-time snapshot — no recurring schedule, matching every other full-universe fundamentals sweep added to this site since mid-September 2026. Re-run manually for a fresh pass; quarterly fundamentals don't move day to day. Sector and company name come from the same weekly metadata sweep that backs Sector Beeswarm.