EC Are Q3 Earnings Results Really Good?

We get into the heart of the Q3 earnings season this coming week, with more than 600 companies reporting results, including 154 S&P 500 members. With results from almost 17% of the index’s total membership already out, we have a pretty good sense about the quarter thus far. But we will have reached close to the mid-point of the Q3 reporting cycle, for the large-cap stocks at least, by the end of this week.

As we mentioned here last week, the banks gave us a good start to the Q3 earnings season, with the market appreciating (and rewarding) the money-center banks and brokers for their results. The picture is mixed for the regional banks, with stocks of a number of regional banks like PNC Financial (PNC), KeyCorp (KEY) and others losing ground following quarterly releases that showed weak loan growth and signs of funding pressure. Results from the trust banks like Northern Trust (NTRS), State Street (STT) also failed to impress.

Beyond these small pockets of weakness, the overall picture coming out of Q3 earnings season is one of all-around strength, with the growth pace of the first-half of the year continuing into Q3, and management commentary about underlying business conditions still favorable. Also, estimates for the current period (2018 Q4) appear to be holding up pretty well, though it is admittedly early on that front.

We have more details about the Q3 results below, but let’s discuss what’s on the docket for the week first.

Key Earnings Reports (for the week of October 22^nd)

We have a busy reporting week, with more than 600 companies coming out with quarterly results, including 154 S&P 500 members. By Friday, we will have seen results from almost 47% of the S&P 500 members.

Halliburton (HAL) – Haliburton reports quarterly results before the market’s open on Monday, October 22, with the company expected to earn 49 cents per share on $6.13 billion in revenues, representing year-over-year gains of +16.7% and +12.6%, respectively.