Negative EPS Guidance Falling For Second Consecutive Quarter

It’s still early, but so far it looks like EPS guidance is continuing to improve with more companies issuing positive guidance and the negative guidance having a lower surprise factor. 84 companies in the S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) have offered negative 2Q14 guidance and 27 have issued positive guidance, reports FactSet analyst John Butters. That’s still above the five year average (76% versus 66%) but it’s the lowest point since the end of 2012 and an encouraging sign that two years of corporate pessimism has turned around.

S&P 500 companies issuing positive EPS guidance

“Since hitting a peak in negative EPS guidance in Q4 2013, companies in the S&P 500 have issued fewer negative EPS preannouncements and more positive EPS preannouncements for...