The earnings season has been really, really good
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Any way you slice it, the corporate earnings season has been super strong. About 28% of the S & P 500 , or roughly 140 companies, have reported first-quarter results thus far. Of those companies, more than 81% have beaten analyst expectations, FactSet data shows. The blended S & P 500 earnings growth rate, which factors in the companies results already released and estimates for companies pending to report, sits at 15.1% as of Monday morning. For a better idea of how positive these numbers are, here's how they compare with historical trends, per FactSet: An earnings beat rate of 81% is above the five-year average of 78% and the 10-year mean of 76%. A 15.1% earnings growth rate is above the 13% expansion seen in Q4 2025. It would also mark the sixth straight quarter of double-digit profit growth for the S & P 500. That's not all. FactSet data shows S & P 500 companies are exceeding earnings estimates by an average of 12.3%, well above a five-year average of 7.3%. This comes even as companies contend with an uncertain macroeconomic backdrop. The U.S.-Iran war continues to hang over markets, keeping oil prices elevated . West Texas Intermediate futures popped 2% to trade above $96 per barrel. Brent crude also jumped 2% to briefly top $108. "S & P 500 companies are, on average, delivering truly outstanding results thus far, even with March's oil price shock caused by still-evolving geopolitical uncertainty," Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research, wrote to clients. "Margin expansion is driving the upside, with decent revenue outperformance but remarkable net income growth." "This is exactly the sort of fundamental outperformance that should make for new index highs," he said. This week will be the busiest of the season. More than 160 S & P 500 members are set to report, including "Magnificent Seven" members Meta Platforms, Amazon, Alphabet, Apple and Microsoft. Check out the latest Earnings Playbook edition for more on what to expect from the biggest reports of the week.