Winter Is Coming… To Q1 Earnings

I love Game of Thrones. Most people do I think.

However this article is not about any HBO shows, but rather is meant to point out just how strong winter weather conditions across the country can impact earnings results for many companies in just about every sector. Earnings for companies are generally looked at on a year-over-year basis, which is compared to the same time period a year ago. This means that the business activity from the last two months will be compared to two prior winters of drastically extreme weather.

When you consider that other than the drastically cold weather of only a few days, and only a handful of extreme snowstorms, this winter has been incredibly mild and the odds are great that this will mean stronger earnings relative to last year. Mind you, we still have to make it through March but this is not likely to pose the same issues as the winters of 2015 and 2014.

Oil prices are also drastically lower than they were last year, and this has a positive impact on MANY industries, but is detrimental to a few others. Airlines, for instance, benefit from a mild winter and cheaper fuel prices, and so do restaurants and retail stores.

Be on the lookout for a lot of great buying opportunities in advance of earnings season; there are plenty of nuggets to be found amid a rather interesting year-over-year comparison. Winter came and went…and there’s money to be made!