Looking Ahead to the Q3 Earnings Season: What to Expect

S&P 500 profits have expanded for 12 straight quarters, showing powerful momentum that reaches far beyond Big Tech. That sets a strong backdrop for the start of Q3 earnings season, which begins Thursday, September 10th, with quarterly reports from Oracle ORCL and Adobe ADBE.

The quarterly chart below details actual results alongside Q3 2026 growth expectations and forward projections.

As you can see here, 2026 Q3 earnings for the S&P 500 index are expected to increase by +23% from the same period last year on +11.2% higher revenues. This would follow the unusually strong showing in 2026 Q2.

The revisions trend has remained positive, sustaining the favorable trend in place for almost a year now. The chart below shows how 2026 Q3 earnings growth expectations have evolved lately.

As noted earlier, these favorable revision patterns are not a new development; they extend a tailwind that has been building for nearly a year.

Historically, these upward adjustments were tightly concentrated in Technology and, more recently, Energy following Middle East supply disruptions. However, for Q3 2026, the constructive estimate revisions have broadened significantly, rising across 8 of the 16 Zacks sectors – including Transportation, Finance, Aerospace, Industrials, Utilities, and Construction – alongside Tech and Energy.

The Adobe and Oracle quarterly reports referenced earlier will be for the companies’ fiscal quarters ending in August, which we count as part of our September-quarter tally. In fact, we will be counting these earnings releases as effectively kick-starting this Q3 reporting cycle. That said, the Q3 earnings season will really get going when the big banks come out with their quarterly results in mid-October.

Adobe and Oracle have been major stock laggards lately, as the comparison chart below of these two stocks relative to the Zacks Tech sector and the S&P 500 index shows.

Q2 Earnings Season Scorecard

Through Friday, September 4^th, we have seen Q2 results from 495 S&P 500 members, or 99% of the index’s total membership. Total earnings for these companies are up +45.6% from the same period last year on +15.6% revenue gains, with 84.2% of the companies beating EPS estimates and 77.6% of them beating revenue estimates.

The comparison charts below put the Q2 earnings and revenue growth rates for these index members in a historical context.

The comparison charts below put the Q2 EPS and revenue beats percentages in a historical context.

The unusually strong earnings growth rate of +45.6% and revenue growth of +15.6% are benefiting from blockbuster results from Micron MU and Alphabet GOOGL.

The chart below shows the reported Q2 earnings growth pictures, with and without Alphabet and Micron.

The Q2 reporting cycle is in its final stretch, with only 5 S&P 500 members still to report results. We have four of those remaining 5 index members on deck to report results this week, including Kroger, Casey’s General Stores, Copart, and The Cooper Companies. These four index members will report their fiscal July-quarter results, while the Adobe and Oracle reports are for those companies’ fiscal August quarters.

The Earnings Big Picture

The chart below shows the aggregate growth picture for the S&P 500 index on a calendar year basis.

As with Q2 expectations, the Tech sector has an outsized impact on the annual earnings picture as well. Total Tech sector earnings are expected to increase +52.3% from the same period last year on +23% higher revenues.

Excluding the Tech sector’s substantial contribution, total S&P 500 earnings for the year would be up +14.9% (vs. +27.6% otherwise).

As we have repeatedly flagged in this space in recent weeks, contributions from Alphabet GOOGL, Micron MU, and Nvidia NVDA are also significant here, as the chart below shows.

For a detailed view of the evolving earnings picture, please check out our weekly Earnings Trends report here >>>> S&P 500 Q3 Earnings Preview: Earnings & Revenue Growth Expected to Surge 

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

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