It’s All Been Apple

Jonathan Golub of UBS claims that Apple‘s ($AAPL) earnings have distorted the entire earnings picture. He says that if you take away Apple’s results, earnings for the S&P 500 are up just 1.6%.

Apple’s report “obfuscates the fact that the underlying earnings trend is really weak,” Golub said. “It’s a terrific company, but it’s also important you get a sense of how the average stock, the average company is doing. You want to make sure you don’t distort that view.”

Analysts project income for S&P 500 companies climbed 4.9 percent in the fourth quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Out of 280 companies that have reported since Jan. 9, 68 percent have exceeded analysts’ estimates by an average 2.9 percent, while profit has gained 3.5 percent.

Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on February 8th, 2012 at 11:11 am

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