Europe’s earnings season has so far churned out generally positive results — something that could help regional stocks continue to outshine their U.S. and Japanese peers in the coming months.
On Wednesday, German automaker Volkswagen unveiled a 17 percent jump in first-quarter operating profit on cost cuts and improving demand in Europe. Meanwhile, the U.K.’s biggest household goods retailer – Home Retail Group – posted a 14 percent rise in annual profit.
Of the 107 European companies that reported earnings up to Monday’s close, 60 beat sales estimates, while 18 missed, Barclays said in a note on Wednesday. Some 25 firms beat estimates on earnings per share (EPS), while 16 missed.
“The median sales and earnings surprise is a strong 1.4 percent and 2.8 percent respectively,” Barclays said.
Aided by a 20 percent fall in the euro’s value against the dollar in the past year, a 40 percent slide in oil prices since last June and a one trillion euro ($1.10 trillion) stimulus package from the European Central Bank, European equity markets have had a stellar start to 2015.
The pan-European Euro Stoxx 600 index has soared almost 19 percent so far this year, outpacing a 2.7 percent gain in the S&P 500 index of U.S. stocks, and a 15 percent rally in Japan’s blue-chip Nikkei.
via CNBC
Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.
Alfonso Esparza
trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Latest posts by Alfonso Esparza (see all)
- Market Rally Still Going Low Holiday Volumes Awaiting Start of 2020 - 27 December 2019
- Market Awaits China Retaliation on Trade - 29 November 2019
- Alibaba to Close Order Book Ahead of Huge IPO - 18 November 2019