By the Numbers

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

As of yesterday afternoon, 91 companies or roughly 18% of the S&P 500 have reported earnings.

Here's how things stand:

  • Companies Exceeding Estimates: 52%
  • Companies Matching Estimates: 9%
  • Companies Falling Below Estimates: 40%

Compared to the same point in last earnings season, the breakdown has shifted with a larger increase in companies missing vs. beating estimates.  Financials lead the surprises to the upside and downside on a percentage basis.  Janus Capital has had the biggest surprise to the upside followed by Monsanto .  In absolute dollars, tech rules.  Apple leads with its $347 million surprise followed by IBM's $336 million surprise. 

On the downside, Financials take all 5 of the 5 worst surprises.  Fifth Third leads the losers, reporting the biggest miss in that sector, off by a whopping 38,000%.  In absolute dollars, Citigroup leads with its $6.3 billion negative surprise followed by Regions Financial's $6.2 billion and Bank of America's $3.1 billion downside surprises.  

Source:Thomson Reuters

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