News

As we wrap up our coverage of Q3’24 earnings season, it’s clear that macro uncertainty remains top of mind with commentary heavily influenced by the U.S. election, questions around the path of Fed rate cuts, and heightened geopolitical turmoil.

This earnings season, executive commentary across the Materials sector reflects a continuation of downbeat trends observed, with executives navigating choppy conditions and elevated macro uncertainty.

Broadly, executives point to a continuation of consumer trends seen in recent quarters, with affordability and strained budgets shifting spending away from higher-ticket discretionary items.

While performances have varied from company to company, EPS beats for the roughly 45% of S&P 500 Industrials that have reported Q3 figures have so far come in at a healthy clip — 65% have topped consensus.

Continuing last quarter’s earnings season trend, U.S. Banks are largely reporting strong results relative to Street expectations with most posting solid Q3 beats on the top- and bottom-line.

As we do every quarter, we analyzed the earnings communication trends of 30 off-cycle companies reporting between September 3 and October 3, 2024, to identify important themes and precedence. These companies span market cap sizes and sectors.

Given the buy-side significance placed on leadership quality, C-suite transitions are a watershed event and potential rerating catalyst — up or down — for public companies.

Despite increased concerns over the consumer, the political landscape, and the economy, surveyed financial professionals largely expected Q2’24 results to be in line with both last quarter and relative to consensus, and annual guides to be maintained.

Rather than counting on resurgent volumes, executives are squarely focused on controlling what they can control, highlighting expense management and productivity initiatives — and, in some cases, headcount reduction — that are starting to bear fruit and drive margin expansion.

Executive mentions of consumer softness and a cautious discretionary spending environment remain prevalent this earnings season, a continuation of the trend exhibited last quarter.