The first-quarter earnings season is heating up—both in tempo and the numbers themselves.
More than a third of S&P 500 companies had reported their latest financial results through Friday, according to a FactSet analysis. This week will be busy, with results expected from high-profile companies throughout, especially tomorrow through Thursday. Companies representing more than 40% of the benchmark index's market cap are set to report this week, according to Goldman Sachs.
Meanwhile, a preliminary analysis of the data suggests that first-quarter results came in strong. FactSet’s blended estimate for total S&P 500 earnings—meaning a combination of numbers already reported and Wall Street expectations for those remaining—as of Friday, pointed to year-over-year growth just above 10%. A week earlier, it was closer to 7% .
Growth of 10.1%, FactSet said, would represent a second straight quarter of double-digit earnings growth for index companies as a whole, and a seventh consecutive quarter of year-over-year earnings growth.
Meanwhile, some market watchers expected fewer companies to offer guidance this season. So far, they seem to have been right, according to a Bank of America analysis that said 16% of companies that reported have offered outlooks, down from 27% at the same time last year.
This week's schedule is packed with results that will be closely watched. Key results include Coca-Cola (
KO
) and Pfizer (
PFE
) on Tuesday; Meta (
META
) and Microsoft (
MSFT
) on Wednesday; and Apple (
AAPL
), Amazon (
AMZN
) and McDonald’s (
MCD
) on Thursday.
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