• Earnings Scorecard: For Q1 2018 (with 6% of the companies in the S&P 500 reporting actual results for the quarter), 70% of S&P 500 companies have reported a positive EPS surprise and 73% have reported a positive sales surprise.
• Earnings Growth: For Q1 2018, the blended earnings growth rate for the S&P 500 is 17.3%. If 17.3% is the actual growth rate for the quarter, it will mark the highest earnings growth since Q1 2011 (19.5%).
• Earnings Revisions: On March 31, the estimated earnings growth rate for Q1 2018 was 17.1%. Two sectors have higher growth rates today (compared to March 31) due to positive earnings surprises, led by the Financials sector.
• Earnings Guidance: For Q2 2018, 2 S&P 500 companies have issued negative EPS guidance and 3 S&P 500 companies have issued positive EPS guidance.
• Valuation: The forward 12-month P/E ratio for the S&P 500 is 16.4. This P/E ratio is above the 5-year average (16.1) and above the 10-year average (14.3).
