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S&P 500 Earnings Leaderboard: Biggest Surprises Season to Date

Published: Thursday, 5 Nov 2009 | 7:23 AM ET

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By: Ariel Nelson
Director of Market Data & Content Services

Earnings season is coming closer to an end now that ~80% of the S&P 500 [.SPX Loading... () ] companies have reported earnings.

Here's how things stand so far:

Companies Exceeding EPS Estimates: 80%
Companies Matching EPS Estimates: 6%
Companies Falling Below EPS Estimates: 14%

At the same point last quarter, 18% of the companies reporting had missed EPS estimates and 74% had beaten estimates.

Dow component, Caterpillar [CAT Loading... () ] has had the biggest percent surprise to the upside followed by Nicor [GAS Loading... () ] and Sallie Mae [SLM Loading... () ]. In absolute dollars, financials sit atop the leaderboard. After Citigroup's [C Loading... () ] surprise of over $1.3 billion, Ford [F Loading... () ] and JP Morgan Chase [JPM Loading... () ] follow with ~$1.2 billion surprises each.

Earnings - Best Performers (as of 11/4)

Company	Symbol	Sector	Date	EPS Est.	Actual	%Chg
Caterpillar	CAT	Industrials	10/20/2009	0.06	0.64	967%
Nicor	GAS	Utilities	10/30/2009	0.04	0.30	650%
KLA-Tencor	KLAC	Tech	10/29/2009	0.02	0.15	650%
Capital One	COF	Financials	10/22/2009	0.14	0.94	571%
Sallie Mae	SLM	Financials	10/20/2009	0.04	0.26	550%

On the downside, Massey Energy [MEE Loading... () ] remains atop the leaderboard, with its -122% miss. Pioneer Natural Resources [PXD Loading... () ] debuts with the second worst surprise. In absolute dollars, Etrade Financial [ETFC Loading... () ] leads with its $1 billion negative surprise.

Earnings - Biggest Losers (as of 11/4)

Company	Symbol	Sector	Rpt Date	EPS Est.	Actual	%Chg
Massey Energy	MEE	Energy	10/27/2009	0.18	-0.04	-122%
Pioneer Natural Resources	PXD	Energy	11/3/2009	0.07	0.02	-71%
Allegheny Technologies	ATI	Materials	10/21/2009	0.03	0.01	-67%
Smith International	SII	Energy	10/29/2009	0.15	0.07	-53%
Apartment Investment & Mgmt	AIV	Financials	10/30/2009	0.39	0.19	-51%

Source: Thomson Reuters

Many companies have improved their earnings by cutting costs. Investors are looking for topline growth as a sign that the economy has indeed turned the corner. Continue on to the next page to see the biggest revenue surprises to date as well.

CONTINUED: Biggest revenue surprises to date

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