A Better-than-Expected Q1 Earnings Season Wraps up with the Retailers

by Christine Short of Wall Street Horizon, 5/13/25

Takeaways

  • With 90% of S&P 500® companies reporting for the Q1 reporting season, EPS growth currently stands at 13.4%

  • Three companies reporting this week have delayed their earnings dates: Fox Corp DaVita Inc. and NRG Energy

  • This marks the final week of Q1 peak earnings season with 2,300 companies expected to report

The Q1 2025 earnings season heads into its final peak week with mostly positive results from S&P 500 companies thus far. With 90% of companies from the index now reporting, 78% have beaten Wall Street’s expectations, slightly better than what we’ve seen historically. Furthermore, the average percentage by which companies are beating stands at 8.5%, better than the 10 year average of 6.9%, but slightly below the 5 year average of 8.8%. These better-than-expected results have pushed S&P 500 blended EPS growth to 13.4%, nearly double the expectation at the beginning of the season, and making it the second consecutive quarter of double-digit growth.1

Last week saw impressive results from some highly anticipated names. Two of the standouts were Palantir and Disney. Palantir beat on the top and bottom-line and increased full-year revenue guidance to $3.89B - $3.90B from a prior outlook of $3.74B - $3.76B due to robust adoption of its AI software.2 Disney also beat on the top and bottom-line when they reported Q1 results on Tuesday, thanks to better-than-expected subscriber growth for its Disney+ streaming platform.3

On the flipside, results from Wynn4, Clorox5 and Restaurant Brands International6 came in weaker than anticipated on profits and revenues, which could possibly serve as commentary on how consumers are willing to spend their money in the current environment. Headwinds mentioned on earnings calls ranged from the impact of tariffs to the cautious consumer, providing a good set up for the kick-off of the retail earnings parade this week.