Equity Strategy - Q1 Preview: beats on paper, but the market might not reward them; Eurozone turning up vs the US

Speaker: Mislav, Matejka, CFA, Head of Global Equity Strategy

Q1 reporting season is upon us. As is typical, consensus projections have been moving materially lower over the past months. For S&P500, IBES is now calling for 3% yoy EPS growth, which is down from 10-12% projections seen last summer. In a break from recent norms, though, the activity momentum firmed up during the quarter, as seen in rising global PMIs. These together suggest that we will get earnings beats. The likely earnings beats do not necessarily mean that equities will advance during the reporting season, though. This is because the market has already strongly rerated during Q1, and the big gap has opened up ytd between Fed projections and equity index levels. The risks of interest rates spiking for the “wrong reasons”, Fed pivot getting fully reversed and inflation staying too hot are all elevated. At the same time, geopolitical uncertainty could quickly spike further, and any de-escalation prove fleeting. In addition, consensus expectations are for a very steep climb in earnings over the next few quarters, from Q1 S&P500 projection of 55$ to Q4 forecast of 65$, amounting to an almost 20% increase. This is at a risk of disappointment. In terms of earnings themes, pricing is likely to soften, with topline growth coming back to earth. At sector level, the pickup in commodity prices could help the respective sectors performance. We recently advised for Utilities to perform better, irrespective of bond yields move, and believe that Banks earnings results could end up underwhelming. Regionally, we believe that the period of US earnings outperformance vs Eurozone might be ending. The relative US-Eurozone PMI momentum is likely peaking, which suggests relative EPS delivery might be turning too. These support our recent upgrade of Eurozone equities vs the US.

This podcast was recorded on 14 April 2023.

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