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Corporate earnings in the fourth quarter have been stellar. With 80.7% of the S&P 500’s market cap having reported earnings through the market close on Friday, February 9, 74% of companies are beating bottom-line estimates. Earnings are topping analyst expectations by an average of 4.8%. This is better than the 68% beat rate by an average of 4.7% seen over the last three years, according to data from Credit Suisse. Credit Suisse also notes that earnings per share growth in the fourth quarter is expected to hit 15.3%, which would be the second-best quarter since the start of 2015. But...

Weak global growth is closing consumers' wallets, while the strong dollar is only making iPhones and other American goods more expensive for foreign buyers. Add on still-low oil prices and Corporate America is facing major headwinds. "It's like these companies are trying to play basketball but the tar is melting and sticking to their sneaks. Not fun to watch," says Jack Kramer, co-founder of MarketSnacks, a financial newsletter. Apple's stock quickly fell more than 7% when markets opened Wednesday after it revealed its first annual sales growth decline since 2003. Reeling from its E. coli scare late last year, Chipotle...

...I’m late on the comments because I am helping a major US corporation once again ship a perfectly running, extremely profitable manufacturing operation overseas. By all means of evaluation, it makes no sense to ship it away. This operation meets all cost targets, highest yield requirements and etc. It is moving because someone has a burr that says we can make it cheaper overseas. Just wait until yields drop, requiring throughput to increase, and increased part costs due to the additional wasted parts that will be bought...

Despite grim predictions, most major U.S. companies have reported positive earnings for the second quarter of 2009. Given how wrong past predictions have been, the fact that earnings have blown away expectations shouldn’t be so surprising. Still, the numbers are genuinely impressive: More than 73% of the companies that have reported so far have beaten earnings estimates—and stocks have rightly rallied. Yes, profits are down sharply from a year ago, but this is in the context of an overall global economy that is shrinking. If a company made $30 million on $100 million in revenue a year ago, and made...

Earnings rock ... so far The market is celebrating a strong start for earnings. But with many big firms yet to report, it's probably too soon to get excited. By Paul R. La Monica, CNNMoney.com editor at large October 12 2006: 2:19 PM EDT NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Bust out the bubbly and party favors. Happy days are here again on Wall Street ... at least for now. But some market experts think investors shouldn't get too optimistic. First, the good news. The Dow hit a new record trading high Thursday and the S&P and Nasdaq are at their highest...

First Call: 4Q Earnings Up 10.7% Vs 2001,Up 3.3% Vs Views NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Earnings of companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Stock Index that have issued fourth-quarter reports are running 10.7% higher than year-earlier results, according to Thomson First Call. Of the 500 companies, 491, or 98%, have reported earnings for the December quarter as of Tuesday. So far, fourth-quarter earnings have come in 3.3% higher than analyst expectations. Compared with a year ago, earnings of the S&P 500 are expected to rise 10.1% in the fourth quarter. That figure reflects actual earnings for the companies that have...

US Stocks Down As Focus Returns To Earnings By Stacy Forster of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE. NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Even the spectacle of Saddam Hussein's statue being toppled in Baghdad can't keep stocks from falling Thursday as attention turns to earnings once again. Stocks had posted gains throughout the morning as the celebration in Baghdad continued. But by midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had slipped back; it was recently down 48 points to 8250, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index lost 15 points to 1368. The dollar surged and bonds were higher. "The market has already concluded that...

US Stocks Mixed; Investors React To Dow Member Earnings By Shaheen Pasha of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Investors' mixed reactions to a number of earnings reports are putting pressure on the Dow Jones Industrial Average at the same time Intel and Microsoft earnings have helped the Nasdaq. Volume has been a problem for the market in recent days, with many investors staying away until they see evidence of more positive prospects for the economy and corporate earnings. That's been causing some choppiness among equities and has put a cap on gains. "The problem is we need to get...

U.S. May real earnings rose 0.5 pct Tuesday June 17, 8:32 am ET WASHINGTON, June 17 (Reuters) - Labor Department monthly U.S. real average weekly earnings data for nonsupervisory private workers outside the farm sector, seasonally adjusted. Percent changes are for constant 1982 dollars, which discount the effects of inflation. REAL AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS: Percent Changes: May April May03/02 . 0.5 0.2 0.6 Constant 1982 dollars: . May April May'02 . 279.74 278.37 278.16 Real average weekly earnings, in current dollars: . May April May'02 . 516.96 515.27 503.75 COMPONENTS: May Avg weekly hours unch Avg hourly earnings +0.3 pct...

CORPORATE earnings season got off to its official start last week, and the second-quarter results had better be good. If they are not, the big move in stocks of the last few months will have less footing than rational investors require. But even if many companies report decent numbers, investors should not break out the Dom Pérignon. Because the quality of earnings has declined so significantly among the nation's largest companies ? those in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index ? it is not hyperbolic to advise investors to view every profit report with suspicion. Advertisement David Bianco, accounting analyst...

U.S. June real earnings unchanged Wednesday July 16, 8:29 am ET WASHINGTON, July 16 (Reuters) - Labor Department monthly U.S. real average weekly earnings data for nonsupervisory private workers outside the farm sector, seasonally adjusted. Percent changes are for constant 1982 dollars, which discount the effects of inflation. REAL AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS: Percent Changes: June May June03/02 . unch 0.5 unch Constant 1982 dollars: . June May June'02 . 279.87 279.92 279.83 Real average weekly earnings, in current dollars: . June May June'02 . 518.31 517.30 507.62 COMPONENTS: June Avg weekly hours unch Avg hourly earnings 0.2 pct CPI-W (urban/clerical)...

Sun July 20, 2003 10:31 AM ET By Elizabeth Lazarowitz NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks may be set adrift as investors' lofty expectations for a turnaround in the economy and corporate earnings meet reality in another monster week for corporate earnings reports. The height of the second-quarter earnings period has brought Wall Street back down to earth after a supercharged springtime rally. Many analysts expect there will be little in the near term to help the market regain its momentum. Few will argue that earnings aren't improving. And, by some accounts, expectations for the third quarter have even begun to...

August 7, 2003Engineering Earnings - by Chad HudsonThis week's economic data continued to depict an economy gaining strength. However, the stock market has not been impressed as the S&P 500 closed at a two-month low on Tuesday. The bond market has been where the action is and it is amazing how contained the stock market has been given the historic increase in long-term interest rates. Corporate earnings have been in the spotlight for the past month. While corporate earnings managed to beat analyst's estimates, results were not as high quality as was priced into the market. Investors realized that...