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So far 17 percent of the companies in S&P 500 have reported their Q3 earnings. Let’s take a look at the key takeaways,
- So far, 76 percent of the companies that reported actual results, reported better than expected earnings, down from 81 percent last week. Only 24 percent of the companies reported worse than estimated earnings. Average earnings growth rate so far is 1.7 percent, down from 2.1 percent last week. It was forecasted after the quarter, that growth rate will be 3 percent.
- Earnings surprise percentage is at 2.5 percent, which is below the 5-year average.
- 72 percent of the companies reported higher sales than estimated, which is down from 78 percent last week. Sales growth rate is at 5.1 percent, which is higher than last week’s 5 percent.
- This week 189 companies are expected to report Q3 results.
- Almost half of the companies cited Hurricane Harvey as having a negative impact. Almost 40 percent of the companies have cited currency or foreign exchange rate as having a negative impact.
- The current forward 12-month P/E ratio for the S&P 500 is at 17.9, higher than its 5-year average of 15.6 and 10-year average of 14.1
- At the sector level, the Health Care (100percentage), Telecom Services (100percentage), and Information Technology (91percentage) sectors have the highest percentages of companies reporting earnings above estimates, while the Energy (33percentage) sector has the lowest percentage of companies reporting earnings above estimates.
- At the sector level, the Telecom Services (100%), Information Technology (91%), and Consumer Discretionary (90%) sectors have the highest percentages of companies reporting revenues above estimates, while the Real Estate (0%) and Consumer Staples (50%) sectors have the lowest percentages of companies reporting revenues above estimates.
Better than expected earnings in 2017 have pushed all three, S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and NASDAQ to all-time highs. S&P 500 is currently trading at 2574, while DOW is at 23328, and NASDAQ at 6629.
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