Slower earnings growth ahead ?

Zacks.com is indicating growth slowdown for next quarter.

The fourth quarter earnings season is over 96% done. So far, 482 S&P 500 firms have reported. Despite some high profile misses, the results look pretty strong. Positive surprises have out numbered disappointments 303-104, with 75 hitting expectations exactly. The median growth rate of the firms that have reported is 14.5%. It now seems clear that this will mark the 15th straight quarter of double-digit earnings growth for the S&P 500.

With 96.2% of the precincts in, we are making a call on this “election”. This was a good quarter for corporate earnings growth. With almost a 3:1 ratio of positive surprises over disappointments, it looks like it is shaping up as a landslide.

However, it looks like this may be the last quarter of double-digit growth, as earnings growth is expected to decelerate sharply in the first quarter. Every sector but Materials is expected to post lower growth in the first quarter than in the fourth quarter. The median S&P 500 growth expectation for the quarter is only 9.0%, well below the 14.5% posted in the fourth quarter.