As about 80% of US stock companies have already announced their results, the first quarter financial reporting season of the US stock market has also come to an end. At present, the overall performance of this financial reporting season has satisfied Wall Street, and the unexpectedly weak non farm payroll data last Friday has brought surprises to investors who are looking forward to interest rate cuts.
After all six giants have announced their results, the highlight of this week's US stock earnings season is entertainment giants such as Disney. The market's most anticipated Nvidia financial report will not be unveiled until the end of this month.
The US stock earnings season is coming to an end
As of last Friday, about 80% of S&P 500 index constituent companies have announced their results, indicating that the first quarter financial reporting season for the US stock market has come to an end.
Currently, 77% of the publicly announced US stock companies have exceeded market expectations in terms of performance, with an average year-on-year profit growth of 5% in the first quarter. According to FactSet data, investors have an expectation of 3.4% for this data. This means that this US stock earnings season is better than expected for investors.
In addition, FactSet's data shows that in April this year, analysts raised their expectations for the year-on-year growth rate of US stock companies in the second quarter by 0.7%. This clearly indicates that the excellent first quarter performance has made Wall Street analysts more optimistic. It should be noted that typically in the first month of each quarter, analysts tend to lower their profit expectations.
Analysts adjust their quarterly profit expectations for the S&P 500 in the first month of each quarter
Take apples as an example.
Last Friday, Apple's stock price rose 6% due to its better than expected second quarter performance announced on Thursday. Although the company's annual revenue has declined again, Apple expects its revenue to grow in low single digits in the third quarter.
More encouraging is that Luca Maestri, Apple's chief financial officer, revealed that Apple's sales in Chinese Mainland actually increased in the latest quarter. Such optimistic expectations and statements have reignited Wall Street's confidence in Apple.
Disney will be the heaviest financial report of the week
Currently, after Apple's financial report is released, it means that six of the "Big Seven" have already released their financial reports, leaving only the most heavyweight technology giant - NVIDIA - whose financial report will be released at the end of May.
Among these six giants, except for Tesla, which had lower than expected revenue and profit performance, several other companies have all submitted strong performance reports.
This week, the US stock market will enter a slightly lackluster week: it will be the first earnings week in the past three weeks that does not include any members of the Big Seven. Instead, consumer and entertainment brand companies will occupy the top spot in their financial reports.
The Disney financial report released before noon on Tuesday Eastern Time is expected to be the most closely watched report of the week. The growth of subscribers to Disney's streaming services, park visitors, and the growth of Disney's summer box office will become key themes for investors. In addition, cable TV networks HBO, TBS, and Warner Bros. Discovery Channel (WBD. US) will also release results later this week, which should arouse similar interest from investors.
In terms of technology companies, online ride hailing platforms Uber and Lyft will release their financial reports this week, while "American version Tieba" Reddit will also release its first quarter performance since its listing.
In terms of economic data, after the unexpectedly sluggish non farm payroll data released by the United States last Friday and a significant increase in market expectations for interest rate cuts, the only noteworthy data this week is the preliminary survey of consumer confidence by the University of Michigan on Friday.