Are Any Retailers Reporting Earnings Growth for Q1?

The next several weeks will be focus weeks for retail earnings for the S&P 500, as 25 of the 87 remaining companies in the index that have yet to report actual results for the first quarter are retailers. As of today, which retail sub-industries and companies in the S&P 500 have reported or are projected to report the highest earnings growth for the first quarter?

Sub-Industry Trends

Of the 13 retail sub-industries in the S&P 500, just four have reported or are expected to report earnings growth for the first quarter, led by the Internet & Direct Marketing Retail and Home Improvement Retail sub-industries.

The Internet Direct Marketing Retail sub-industry is expected to report the highest earnings growth of all 13 retail sub-industries at 22.4%. However, only two of the five companies in this sub-industry have reported or are expected to report earnings growth for the first quarter: Amazon.com ($1.48 vs. $1.07) and Netflix ($0.40 vs. $0.06).

The Home Improvement Retail sub-industry is projected to report the second highest earnings growth at 9.6%. Both companies in this sub-industry are expected to report earnings growth for the quarter, led by Lowe’s Companies. The mean EPS estimate for Lowe’s Companies is $1.05, compared to year-ago EPS of $0.87. Lowe’s Companies is scheduled to release results on May 24.

At the company level, 18 of the 37 S&P 500 companies in these 13 retail sub-industries are expected to report or have already reported EPS growth for the first quarter, led by Netflix (+567%), Amazon.com (+38%), Ulta Beauty (+24%), and Lowe’s Companies (+21%).