Q1 Earnings Growth Perks Up With a Busy Week Ahead

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.