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The S&P 500’s P/E is headed for a 3-year high. Not Apple’s.

By
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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By
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Down Arrow Button Icon
March 25, 2013, 11:13 AM ET

Source: Pendulum. Click twice to enlarge.

FORTUNE — Apple (AAPL), Oracle (ORCL) and EMC (EMC).

Those are the only three companies in the S&P 500 whose price-to-earnings ratio did not grow over the past 90 days, according to a Seeking Alpha piece posted Monday by someone or something called Pendulum.

The other 497 companies have all seen their valuations increase to the point where the average P/E of the index is likely to finish the quarter this week at a three-year high. This despite the fact that the valuation of Apple — the single largest component of the S&P 500 — spent most of those 90 days headed in the wrong direction.

You can get the full version of the chart above from Pendulum’s S&P 500’s P/E Multiple Ending Q1 At 3-Year High.

The contrast between Apple and the rest of the 500 would be even more dramatic if Pendulum had been able to include Amazon (AMZN) in the chart. At 71.5, its forward P/E is more than 7 times Apple’s (9.4). Its trailing P/E is unchartable, given that Amazon lost $39 million in 2012.

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By Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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