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American Express, Tesla and Halliburton are part of Zacks Earnings Preview
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For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – April 20, 2026 – Zacks.com releases the list of companies likely to issue earnings surprises. This week’s list includes American Express (AXP - Free Report) , Tesla (TSLA - Free Report) and Halliburton (HAL - Free Report) .
Earnings Outlook Remains Very Strong: A Closer Look
Q1 results from the roughly 10% of S&P 500 members that have already reported quarterly results validate the steadily improving earnings outlook we have consistently highlighted in our earnings commentary.
It is admittedly still very early in the Q1 reporting cycle, and the sample of results is heavily weighted towards the Finance sector, but we remain confident that the trends established already will endure through the remainder of this earnings season.
We get into the heart of the Q1 earnings season this week, with more than 300 companies on deck to report results, including 90 S&P 500 members. This week’s line-up includes a representative cross-section of all sectors, ranging from blue-chip operators like 3M, Boeing, and Procter & Gamble, consumer finance players like Synchrony, Capital One, and American Express, and Tech players like IBM and Texas Instruments. Also on deck this week is Tesla, homebuilders, airlines, railroad operators and oilfield service leaders like Halliburton.
By the end of this week, we will have seen Q1 results from more than 27% of all S&P 500 members.
Regular readers of our earnings commentary are familiar with the steadily improving earnings outlook we have consistently highlighted over the past year. This improvement in the earnings outlook has been driven mostly by the Tech sector over the past year, with positive Tech sector estimate revisions offsetting negative revisions elsewhere, keeping the aggregate revisions trend in the neutral-to-positive direction.
What has changed over the last couple of quarters is that the positive revisions trend has expanded beyond its aforementioned Tech sector core. We saw this ahead of the start of this earnings season as well as the one prior to that. We will be closely monitoring how estimates for 2026 Q2 evolve as we go through the Q1 earnings season.
The current expectation is of +19.4% earnings growth in 2026 Q2 on +9.1% higher revenues.
Estimates have moved higher for 5 of the 16 Zacks sectors since the quarter began two weeks ago. Q2 estimates have increased for Tech, a trend that has persisted for more than a year now. Still, estimates have also moved higher for the Energy, Basic Materials, Utilities, and Business Services sectors.
Rising estimates for the Energy sector are tied to developments in the Middle East, with the sector’s favorable revisions trend likely to turn negative again if current optimism about the Iran conflict bears fruit.
On the negative side, Q2 estimates have been cut for 11 of the 16 Zacks sectors since the start of the quarter, with the most estimate pressure at the Transportation, Autos, and Consumer Discretionary sectors.
2026 Q1 Earnings Season Scorecard
Through Friday, April 17th, we have seen Q1 results from 48 S&P 500 members or 9.6% of the index’s total membership. Total earnings for these 48 index members are up +29.3% from the same period last year on +12.4% higher revenues, with 79.2% beating EPS estimates and an equal proportion beating revenue estimates.
The Cyclical – Non-cyclical Divide
The two sets of charts below divide the S&P 500 index into cyclical and non-cyclical sectors, with cyclical sectors accounting for 43.2% of total 2026 Q1 index earnings and non-cyclical sectors accounting for 56.8%.
The cyclical grouping includes the 11 Zacks, out of the 16 in the index, that can broadly be described as ‘cyclical’. These include Consumer Discretionary, Retail, Autos, Basic Materials, Industrials, Construction, Conglomerates, Energy, Finance, Transportation, and Business Services.
For a detailed look at the overall earnings picture, including expectations for the coming periods, please check out our weekly Earnings Trends report >>>>Q1 Earnings Season Starts Off Strong
Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?
Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.7% average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +48.4%, +50.2% and +56.7% per year.
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Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss.This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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American Express, Tesla and Halliburton are part of Zacks Earnings Preview
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – April 20, 2026 – Zacks.com releases the list of companies likely to issue earnings surprises. This week’s list includes American Express (AXP - Free Report) , Tesla (TSLA - Free Report) and Halliburton (HAL - Free Report) .
Earnings Outlook Remains Very Strong: A Closer Look
Q1 results from the roughly 10% of S&P 500 members that have already reported quarterly results validate the steadily improving earnings outlook we have consistently highlighted in our earnings commentary.
It is admittedly still very early in the Q1 reporting cycle, and the sample of results is heavily weighted towards the Finance sector, but we remain confident that the trends established already will endure through the remainder of this earnings season.
We get into the heart of the Q1 earnings season this week, with more than 300 companies on deck to report results, including 90 S&P 500 members. This week’s line-up includes a representative cross-section of all sectors, ranging from blue-chip operators like 3M, Boeing, and Procter & Gamble, consumer finance players like Synchrony, Capital One, and American Express, and Tech players like IBM and Texas Instruments. Also on deck this week is Tesla, homebuilders, airlines, railroad operators and oilfield service leaders like Halliburton.
By the end of this week, we will have seen Q1 results from more than 27% of all S&P 500 members.
Regular readers of our earnings commentary are familiar with the steadily improving earnings outlook we have consistently highlighted over the past year. This improvement in the earnings outlook has been driven mostly by the Tech sector over the past year, with positive Tech sector estimate revisions offsetting negative revisions elsewhere, keeping the aggregate revisions trend in the neutral-to-positive direction.
What has changed over the last couple of quarters is that the positive revisions trend has expanded beyond its aforementioned Tech sector core. We saw this ahead of the start of this earnings season as well as the one prior to that. We will be closely monitoring how estimates for 2026 Q2 evolve as we go through the Q1 earnings season.
The current expectation is of +19.4% earnings growth in 2026 Q2 on +9.1% higher revenues.
Estimates have moved higher for 5 of the 16 Zacks sectors since the quarter began two weeks ago. Q2 estimates have increased for Tech, a trend that has persisted for more than a year now. Still, estimates have also moved higher for the Energy, Basic Materials, Utilities, and Business Services sectors.
Rising estimates for the Energy sector are tied to developments in the Middle East, with the sector’s favorable revisions trend likely to turn negative again if current optimism about the Iran conflict bears fruit.
On the negative side, Q2 estimates have been cut for 11 of the 16 Zacks sectors since the start of the quarter, with the most estimate pressure at the Transportation, Autos, and Consumer Discretionary sectors.
2026 Q1 Earnings Season Scorecard
Through Friday, April 17th, we have seen Q1 results from 48 S&P 500 members or 9.6% of the index’s total membership. Total earnings for these 48 index members are up +29.3% from the same period last year on +12.4% higher revenues, with 79.2% beating EPS estimates and an equal proportion beating revenue estimates.
The Cyclical – Non-cyclical Divide
The two sets of charts below divide the S&P 500 index into cyclical and non-cyclical sectors, with cyclical sectors accounting for 43.2% of total 2026 Q1 index earnings and non-cyclical sectors accounting for 56.8%.
The cyclical grouping includes the 11 Zacks, out of the 16 in the index, that can broadly be described as ‘cyclical’. These include Consumer Discretionary, Retail, Autos, Basic Materials, Industrials, Construction, Conglomerates, Energy, Finance, Transportation, and Business Services.
For a detailed look at the overall earnings picture, including expectations for the coming periods, please check out our weekly Earnings Trends report >>>>Q1 Earnings Season Starts Off Strong
Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?
Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.7% average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +48.4%, +50.2% and +56.7% per year.
Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.
See Stocks Free >>
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Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss.This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.