Earnings Season So Far

Earnings season is still young but Bloomberg has some numbers so far:

While the rate of profit growth is slowing in the S&P 500, companies in the index have reported record annual earnings for more than two years, holding valuations close to the historical average even as the gauge’s price reached an all-time high in March and kept climbing.

Profits for companies in the S&P 500 probably increased 1.4 percent during the third quarter as sales rose 2 percent, according to analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Among the 87 companies in the index that have reported so far, 72 percent exceeded analysts’ estimates, about the same proportion as the previous quarter.

S&P 500 companies are projected to earn a record $107.90 a share this year, up from $45.82 a share in 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Among the 20 biggest companies that released results, the median one-day stock move afterward has been a gain of 1.2 percent.

Weakening profit growth will limit stock gains, according to Donald Selkin, who helps manage about $3 billion as the New York-based chief market strategist at National Securities Corp. The shutdown has shaved at least 0.6 percent off of fourth-quarter 2013 gross domestic product growth, taking $24 billion out of the economy, S&P Ratings Services said this week.

They also note that over the last 10 years, the S&P 500 has gained 1.1% during the first four weeks of earnings season, which is about double the growth rate of the index over that time.

Posted by on October 18th, 2013 at 1:24 pm


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