Grace Whitaker
Grace leads Earnings Dispatch's season coverage, tracking beat rates, surprise magnitudes, and the aggregate picture across the S&P 500 each quarter.
Articles by Grace Whitaker
FactSet Put Blended Second-Quarter Growth at 50.4%. Excluding Alphabet and Amazon, It Was 32.0%.
The compiler's own August 7 update carries both numbers side by side, along with an aggregate earnings surprise of 29.2% that falls to 10.9% once the same two companies come out. The stragglers reporting this week are on a different fiscal calendar entirely.
The S&P 500's 50.4% Earnings Growth Is Mostly Two Companies. FactSet's Own Note Says So.
FactSet's August 7 Earnings Insight puts blended Q2 2026 earnings growth at 50.4% — and, in its revisions section, at 32.0% excluding Alphabet and Amazon.com. The index statistic being quoted everywhere describes two balance sheets more than it describes 500 companies.
The Q2 Scorecard Says 50% Earnings Growth. Take Out Two Companies And It Says 32%.
With 88% of the S&P 500 reported, FactSet's blended second-quarter earnings growth rate stands at 50.4%, a number with almost no precedent in the data series. Strip out two companies whose GAAP results were inflated by unrealized investment gains and the figure drops by more than 18 percentage points.
Q2 Scorecard: S&P 500 Beat Rates Hit Unusual Highs as Earnings Surprise Sets a Record
With 88% of the S&P 500 reporting, companies are topping profit estimates at the highest rate in years, and the aggregate earnings surprise is the largest FactSet has ever recorded.