Q3 Earnings Season: Tech Sector Remains Growth Driver

Note: The following is an excerpt from this week’s Earnings Trends report. You can access the full report that contains detailed historical actual and estimates for the current and following periods, please click here>>>

Here are the key points:

• For the 389 S&P 500 members that have reported Q3 results, total earnings are up +14.6% from the same period last year on +8.3% higher revenues, with 83.5% beating EPS estimates and 75.6% beating revenue estimates. The proportion of these 389 index members beating both EPS and revenue estimates is 67.1%.

• For the Tech sector, we now have Q3 results from 67.4% of the sector’s market capitalization in the S&P 500 index. Total earnings for these Tech companies are up +24.8% from the same period last year on +12.6% higher revenues, with 92.5% beating EPS estimates and 84.9% beating revenue estimates. This is notably better performance from these Tech companies relative to other recent periods.

• With respect to growth, Q3 earnings are expected to be above the year-earlier level for 11 of the 16 Zacks sectors, with double-digit growth at the Aerospace (up +76.5%), Tech (+24.7%), Finance (+24.4%), and Retail (+15.3%) sectors.

• For the Magnificent 7 group, Q3 earnings are on track to be up +26.7% from the same period last year on +17.6% higher revenues, which would follow the group’s +26.4% earnings growth on +15.5% revenue growth in the preceding period.

The Mag 7 Group’s Impressive Earnings Power

Nvidia NVDA is the only Mag 7 member yet to report Q3 results, with the company scheduled to report after the market’s close on November 19^th.

The expectation is that Nvidia will come out with $1.23 per share in earnings on $54.59 billion in revenues, representing year-over-year growth rates of +51.9% and +55.6%, respectively. Estimates have largely been stable over the last two months, but they are up relative to where they stood three months back.

Of the group’s results we have seen already, the market loved the numbers from Amazon AMZN and Alphabet GOOGL, didn’t like what it saw from Microsoft MSFT and Meta META; the Apple AAPL and Tesla TSLA results fall somewhere in the middle.

If we look at the group’s Q3 numbers as a whole, combining the actual results from Apple, Tesla, Amazon, Meta, Alphabet, and Microsoft with estimates for Nvidia, total earnings are on track to be up +26.7% from the same period last year on +17.6% higher revenues. This will follow the group’s +26.4% earnings growth on +15.5% revenue growth in 2025 Q2, as the chart below shows.

For 2025 as a whole, the Mag 7 group is on track to achieve +20.7% earnings growth on +11.5% top-line gains, with double-digit earnings and revenue growth expected in each of the next two years, as we show later in this report.

The Earnings Big Picture

Positive Q3 results and reassuring management commentary from these banks are helping sustain the favorable revisions trend that has been in place lately.

For 2025 Q3, the expectation is for earnings growth of +13.8% on +8.1% revenue gains. We have consistently shown in this space how Q3 estimates have steadily increased since the quarter began.

The chart below shows expectations for 2025 Q3 in terms of what was achieved in the preceding four periods and what is currently expected for the next three quarters.

The chart below shows how estimates for the current period (2025 Q4) have evolved in recent weeks.

The chart below shows the overall earnings picture for the S&P 500 index on an annual basis.

As noted earlier, the revisions trend has turned positive, in line with the trend we had seen at this stage in the preceding period as well. We will be closely watching if this favorable revisions trend gains strength or tapers off as we go through the remainder of the Q3 reporting cycle.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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