Highest Number of S&P 500 Earnings Calls Citing “Middle East” Going Back At Least 10 Years

During each corporate earnings season, companies may comment on geopolitical events that had an impact on their earnings or revenues in a given quarter or may have an impact on earnings and revenues in future quarters. As a result, have S&P 500 companies commented on the situation in the Middle East on their earnings calls for the first quarter?

The answer is yes. FactSet searched for the term “Middle East” in the conference call transcripts of all the S&P 500 companies that conducted earnings conference calls from March 15 through May 15.

Overall, the term “Middle East” was cited on 211 earnings calls conducted by S&P 500 companies during this period. This number reflects the highest number of S&P 500 earnings calls where the term “Middle East” was cited over the past 10 years (using current index constituents going back in time). The previous record for the highest number of earnings calls where the term “Middle East” was cited over this period was 85 in Q2 2023. This number (211) also reflects 47% of the earnings calls conducted by S&P 500 companies from March 15 to May 15.

At the sector level, the Industrials (50) sector has the highest number of earnings calls where the term “Middle East” was cited, while the Energy (90%) sector has the highest percentage of earning calls where the term “Middle East” was cited.

A number of the companies citing “Middle East” on earnings calls for Q1 discussed some of the macroeconomic impacts of the situation, including higher oil prices and higher freight costs. However, it is interesting to note that only a small number of the companies that cited “Middle East” on Q1 earnings calls also lowered EPS guidance for 2026.

Of the 211 S&P 500 companies that cited “Middle East” on their Q1 earnings calls, 117 (or 55%) also provided annual EPS guidance for 2026. This percentage (55%) is consistent with the overall percentage of S&P 500 companies providing annual EPS guidance for 2026 (53%).

Of these 117 companies, 60 provided annual EPS guidance that was higher than the previous (annual) guidance issued by the company, 43 maintained previous (annual) EPS guidance, 12 provided annual EPS guidance that was lower than the previous (annual) guidance issued by the company, 1 initiated new annual EPS guidance (no prior guidance), and 1 did not provide an update relative to previous (annual) guidance.

Therefore, 88% (103 out of 117) of the S&P 500 companies that cited “Middle East” on their Q1 earnings calls and provided annual EPS guidance either increased or maintained prior EPS guidance for 2026. On the other hand, 11% (13 out of 117) of the S&P 500 companies that cited “Middle East” on their earnings calls and provided annual EPS guidance either lowered annual EPS guidance or did not provide an update relative to previous EPS guidance for 2026.

Of these 13 companies, seven cited direct or indirect impacts from the situation in the Middle East as a reason for either lowering or not updating annual EPS guidance. The other six companies either cited other factors for lowering annual EPS guidance or stated they did not expect the situation in the Middle East to have a material impact on earnings for the full year. A list of these 13 companies and their comments can be found in Appendix 1 starting on page 38 of the full Earnings Insight report linked below this article.

As a result, 6% (7 out 117) of the companies that cited “Middle East” on their Q1 earnings calls and provided annual EPS guidance cited direct or indirect impacts from the situation in the Middle East as a reason or factor for either lowering or not updating annual EPS guidance. Six of these seven companies are in industries related to travel. Four companies are in the Hotels, Resorts, & Cruise Lines sub-industry and two companies are in the Passenger Airlines sub-industry. 

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