With Alcoa's report yesterday afternoon, the official start to earnings season is here. Alcoa reported EPS of $.44 / share, missing analyst estimates by $.04. So far about 30 companies or just over 5% of the S&P 500 have reported. ~75% have beaten analyst estimates, ~10% have hit estimates, and ~15% have missed.
Here are the latest forecasts from Thomson Financial for the S&P 500:
- Q1:
- Currently expected to be -13.0%
- With Financials removed, forecasts are for +7.0% (Financials are forecast to fall 62%)
- The -13.0% can be compared to -9.9% a week ago, and -1.6% a month ago
- Q2:
- Currently expected to be -3%
- With Financials removed, forecasts are for +8.3%
Here are some of the biggest EPS surprises in the past few weeks (not all S&P 500 companies):
- Lennar beat EPS estimates by $0.89 / share on March 27
- Embraer beat EPS estimates by $0.33 / share on March 20
- Conagra beat EPS estimates by $0.22/ share on March 27
- Mosaic beat EPS estimates by $0.22/ share on April 4
- KB Homes missed EPS estimates by $2.30 / share on March 28