The largest U.S. companies are beating the average stock in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index by the most in more than a decade, fueled by rising dividends, valuations 31 percent below the historical average and fear. Companies in the S&P 100 from Apple Inc. to Bank of America Corp. have gained 7.7 percent in 2012, compared with 5.1 percent for a version of the S&P 500 that strips out weightings for market value, the widest margin since 1999, data compiled by Bloomberg show. With price-earnings ratios down 6.6 percent this quarter to 12.7 and payouts at 2.2 percent of share prices, analysts raised buy recommendations for the group to the highest level since 2007.
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