The second-quarter earnings season is busy wrapping up with only 16% members of the elite S&P 500 Index left to be reported. Per the latest Earnings Preview, the performance of 420 index members (accounting for 86.7% of the index’s total market capitalization), having already reported their financial numbers this quarter, indicates that total earnings have increased 11.6% on 5.6% higher revenues. The beat ratio is impressive with 74.3% companies surpassing the bottom-line expectations and 68.3%, outperforming with the top line.
The Finance sector (one of the 16 Zacks sectors) has delivered a strong performance till now and is almost done with results. 99% companies on the S&P 500 Index (accounting for 88.7% of the index’s total market capitalization) that have already reported quarterly results, shows 8.7% earnings growth on 3.6% increase in revenues, both on a year-over-year basis. The beat ratio of 77.9% for the bottom line and 68.4% for the top line compared favorably with that of the S&P 500.
