Tuesday, October 23, 2012
What is common between
DuPont
(
DD
),
UPS
(
UPS
),
3M
(
MMM
),
Whirlpool
(
WHR
) and
United Technology
(
UTX
)? They all reported results this morning, and the one thing
common in those reports is what's happening on the revenue lines
in each case - revenue came short of expectations by varying
degrees and was lower than in the same period last year.
Not to pick on these players, as they have plenty of company
from the likes of
Caterpillar
(
CAT
),
General Electric
(
GE
) and
Google
(
GOOG
), to name just a few more.
The reason behind this widespread top-line weakness shouldn't
come as a surprise to anyone. After all, revenue growth is a
function of (nominal) GDP growth. And as we all know, lack of
economic growth has emerged as a worldwide phenomenon. The
consensus expectation of 1.9% U.S. GDP growth in the third
quarter (the report comes out this Friday) makes it at the top of
the growth league tables among the world's developed
economies.
This may not be much growth to brag about, but this is better
than what's happening in Europe and many other parts of the
world, including the emerging markets (the 'cleanest dirty shirt'
analogy for the U.S. economy may not be so off the mark).
Companies with a predominantly domestic business orientation are
overall doing somewhat better this earnings season. The
stronger-looking numbers this morning from Whirlpool and
Coach
(
COH
) are mostly due to domestic strength.
But with about 40% of the average S&P 500 member company's
revenues coming from beyond the U.S. shores, the worldwide
economic weakness is having a bearing. With sales growth
difficult to come by given this weak global economic backdrop,
the only other way companies can increase their profits is by
expanding their margins, which basically means to 'squeeze' more
profits from the same amount of sales. But that's hard to do at
this stage as margins have already reached the prior cyclical
peak and at best will remain stable.
We are seeing both of these trends at play in the 141 S&P
500 reports we have seen thus far (as of Tuesday morning, October
23rd). We have plenty of earnings reports still to come, but I
will be surprised if the trend set by these 141 companies will
materially change. Total earnings for these 141 companies are
down 1.7% from the same period last year, while earnings for the
remaining 359 companies are expected to show a decline of
2.3%.
But lack of growth aside, positive surprises are also at their
lowest level in a while. Of the companies that have already
reported results, only 55.3% have beaten earnings expectations.
In the second quarter of 2012, which was by no means strong
either, we had 66.7% of these same companies come out with
positive earnings surprises, while the 'beat ratio' for these
same companies has averaged 70.9% over the last four quarters. On
the revenue side, only 33.3% of the companies have come ahead of
expectations, which compares to a 38.1% 'beat ratio' for the same
group in the second quarter.
The sub-par third quarter earnings performance is at odds with
expectations for a strong earnings growth in the fourth quarter
and beyond. Please note that earnings are expected to increase 7%
in the fourth quarter and in excess of 11% in 2013. I have been
of the view that consensus expectations of a turnaround in
earnings in the fourth quarter and beyond were overly optimistic.
I am getting more convinced of that view given how the third
quarter reporting season has progressed thus far.
Sheraz Mian
Director of Research
CATERPILLAR INC (CAT): Free Stock Analysis
Report
DU PONT (EI) DE (DD): Free Stock Analysis
Report
GENL ELECTRIC (GE): Free Stock Analysis
Report
GOOGLE INC-CL A (GOOG): Free Stock Analysis
Report
3M CO (MMM): Free Stock Analysis Report
UTD PARCEL SRVC (UPS): Free Stock Analysis
Report
UTD TECHS CORP (UTX): Free Stock Analysis
Report
WHIRLPOOL CORP (WHR): Free Stock Analysis
Report
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