S&P 500 Reporting Year-over-Year Revenue Growth for 13th Straight Quarter

The blended (combines actual results for companies that have reported and estimated results for companies that have yet to report) earnings growth rate for the S&P 500 for Q4 2023 is 3.2%. If 3.2% is the actual growth rate for the quarter, it will mark the second consecutive quarter that the index has reported year-over-year growth in earnings. Given the growth in earnings, what is the S&P 500 reporting for revenue growth?

The blended (year-over-year) revenue growth rate for the S&P 500 for Q4 2023 is 4.0%. This growth rate is below the 5-year average revenue growth rate of 6.9% and below the 10-year average revenue growth rate of 5.0%.

However, if 4.0% is the actual revenue growth rate for the quarter, it will mark the 13^th consecutive quarter of revenue growth for the index. This would mark the second-longest period of consecutive quarters of (year-over-year) revenue growth for the S&P 500 since FactSet began tracking this metric in 2008. The current record for the S&P 500 since 2008 is 15 straight quarters of revenue growth, which occurred from Q3 2016 though Q1 2020.

It should be noted that analysts are currently projecting (year-over-year) revenue growth for all four quarters of 2024. For Q1 2024 through Q4 2024, the current estimates for revenue growth are 3.5%, 4.6%, 5.0%, and 5.7%, respectively. Assuming these estimates hold up, the index is on pace to break the current record (since 2008) for consecutive quarters of revenue growth in Q3 2024.

At the sector level for Q4 2023, eight sectors are reporting year-over-year growth in revenues, led by the Real Estate and Communication Services sectors. On the other hand, three sectors are reporting a year-over-year decline in revenues, led by the Energy and Materials sectors.

The FactSet Earnings Insight report will not be published on February 23. The next edition of the report will be published on March 1.

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