Q3 Earnings Season Ramps Up, Outlook for Q4 and Full-Year 2027 Improve

By Sheraz Mian | October 21, 2026, 6:46 PM

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:

With about 15% of the results in, the Q3 earnings season appears on track to show continuation of the broad-based strength that we have been seeing in the last few reporting cycles. While the growth pace remains strong, it does not compare favorably with other recent periods, particularly when the outlier numbers are excluded. On the positive side, the revisions trend remains positive, with estimates for 2026 Q4 and full-year 2027 continuing to rise.

Total Q3 earnings for the 77 S&P 500 members that have reported results already are up +36.4% from the same period last year on +11.6% higher revenues, with 83.1% beating EPS estimates and 67.5% beating revenue estimates. The proportion of these 77 index members beating both EPS and revenue estimates (the ‘blended’ beats percentage is 59.7%.

Micron MU and Nvidia NVDA continue to be material contributors to the Tech sector’s growth picture. Excluding Nvidia, Micron, and Alphabet GOOGL, which enjoyed an outsized gain in the preceding period, Q3 earnings for the rest of the Tech sector would be up +18.7% (vs. +42.2% otherwise).

For 2026 Q4, the expectation is for earnings growth of +28.1% on +12.5% higher revenues, with 15 of the 16 Zacks sectors expected to enjoy positive earnings growth. Q4 estimates are steadily rising, with the current +28.1% earnings growth rate up from +26.6% at the start of October and +23.4% at the start of July.

Full-year 2027 earnings are expected to be above the 2026 level for 15 of the 16 Zacks sectors, with 11 sectors expected to enjoy double-digit growth. The Energy sector is the only sector that is currently expected to experience earnings decline in 2027 (-1.3%).

The Finance Sector Earnings Scorecard

We noted here last week how the market has been less than impressed with bank results thus far. With results from more than 50% of the sector’s market capitalization in the S&P 500 index, we have a fairly representative sample of results for the sector.

Total earnings for the 52% of the sector’s market capitalization in the index that have reported results are up +10.1% from the same period last year on +8.3% higher revenues, with 83.3% beating EPS estimates and 53.3% beating revenue estimates. The ‘blended’ beats percentage for these Finance sector companies is 46.7%.

The comparison charts below show how the sector’s reported Q3 earnings and revenue growth rates compare across other recent periods for the same group of companies.