By the Numbers

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

As of yesterday afternoon, ~50% of the S&P 500 companies had reported earnings.

Here's how things stand so far:

  • Companies Exceeding Estimates: 76%
  • Companies Matching Estimates: 10%
  • Companies Falling Below Estimates: 14%

Compared to the same point in time last earnings season, the breakdown has shifted with a significantly larger increase in companies beating vs. missing estimates.  At the same point last quarter, 26% of the companies reporting had missed EPS estimates and only 63% had beaten estimates. 

Sallie Mae still has had the biggest percent surprise to the upside followed by JP Morgan Chase and Caterpillar .  In absolute dollars, financials take 4 of the top 5 slots in the leaderboard.  Citigroup leads with $4.7 billion surprise followed by Wells Fargo's $1.1 billion and JP Morgan's surprise of nearly $936 million.   Ford is the only non-financial on the list, with an $869 million surprise.

On the downside, Allegheny Technologies still leads the losers, reporting a -567% miss.  In absolute dollars, Intel leads with its $838 million negative surprise followed by Morgan Stanley's $825 million downside surprises.  

Source:Thomson Reuters

Send comments to bythenumbers@cnbc.com