With more than 90 per cent of S&P 500 companies having reported their financial results for the third quarter, earnings season is finally drawing to a close.
Sell-side analysts have been caught a little flat-footed as companies have reported far better results than expected. According to Bank of America’s Savita Subramanian, earnings per share have beat analysts’ estimates from the start of October by 5 per cent, led by outperformance in the energy, financials and health care sectors. Analysts underestimated this metric by a similar degree in the first and second quarters. On the sales front, the top line has come in roughly 8.5 per cent more year-over-year than analysts anticipated.
