With 86% of the S&P 500’s market cap reported, 2Q earnings growth has been negative, with profits down 1.6% excluding Financials. This marks the first quarter of year-on-year profit declines since 2009. Moreover, while EPS surprises have been positive, they have been the weakest of the current recovery cycle, and revenue surprises have been negative. Following 2Q announcements, companies have issued weak guidance, resulting in increasingly rapid downward revisions to analyst estimates. At present, consensus expectations are for earnings to decline by 1.5% in 3Q. This implies further deterioration in margins. While UBS believe margins will hold up better than expected, their revised economic outlook suggests top-line expectations may be too high - and along with the FX impact we noted last night, those miraculous multiples will have to extend to magnificent levels to maintain this haughty market valuation.
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As earnings growth is negative for the first time since the recession...
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and revenue growth is the slowest since then too...
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with earnings and revenue surprises now at cycle highs - with more top-line negative surprises than we have seen since Q2 2009...
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and yet we are at 4 year highs in stocks...
Charts: UBS and Morgan Stanley