Highest Number of S&P 500 Companies Issuing Positive EPS Guidance Since Q3 2021

As of today, 113 S&P 500 companies have issued EPS guidance for the second quarter. This number is above the 5-year average of 96 and above the 10-year average of 98.

Of these companies, 67 have issued negative EPS guidance and 46 have issued positive EPS guidance. The number of companies issuing negative EPS guidance is above the 5-year average of 57 and above the 10-year average of 63. The number of companies issuing positive EPS guidance is also above the 5-year average of 40 and above the 10-year average of 35.

While the number of S&P 500 companies issuing negative EPS guidance for Q2 is consistent with the numbers in three of the past four quarters, the number of S&P 500 companies issuing positive EPS guidance for Q2 is well above the numbers of the past few quarters.

In fact, the second quarter has seen the highest number of S&P 500 companies issuing positive EPS guidance for a quarter since Q3 2021 (56).

At the sector level, the Information Technology and Industrials sectors have the highest number of companies issuing positive EPS guidance for the second quarter at 20 and 9, respectively. Combined, these two sectors account for more than half (29) of all the companies in the S&P 500 issuing positive EPS guidance for the second quarter (46).

If 20 is the final number for the Information Technology sector, it will mark with the highest number of companies issuing positive EPS guidance in this sector since Q3 2021 (27). At the industry level, the Software (7) and Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (6) industries have the highest number of companies issuing positive EPS guidance in the sector.

If 9 is the final number for the Industrials sector, it will mark the highest number of companies issuing positive EPS guidance in this sector since Q2 2021 (10). At the industry level, the Electrical Equipment (3) and Passenger Airlines (3) industries have the highest number of companies issuing positive EPS guidance in the sector.

It is interesting to note that while more companies are issuing positive EPS guidance relative to recent quarters, the percentage of S&P 500 companies issuing positive EPS guidance is equal to the 5-year average. Overall, 41% (46 out of 113) of the S&P 500 companies issuing EPS guidance for Q2 2023 are issuing positive EPS guidance. This percentage is equal to the 5-year average of 41% and higher than the 10-year average of 36%.

The term “guidance” (or “preannouncement”) is defined as a projection or estimate for EPS (or revenue) provided by a company in advance of the company reporting actual results. Guidance is classified as negative if the estimate (or midpoint of a range estimates) provided by a company is lower than the mean EPS estimate (or revenue estimate) the day before the guidance was issued. Guidance is classified as positive if the estimate (or mid-point of a range of estimates) provided by the company is higher than the mean EPS estimate (or revenue estimate) the day before the guidance was issued.

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