Coming off another all-time closing high for the S&P 500 last Friday, it is the busiest week of first-quarter earnings season, with 180 S&P 500 companies scheduled to report. Importantly, five of the Magnificent 7 are scheduled to release earnings: Alphabet (GOOGL), Meta Platforms (META), Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT) and Apple (AAPL).

Beyond the Magnificent 7, notable companies scheduled to report earnings includeinclude Domino’s Pizza (DPZ), Coca‑Cola (KO), NXP Semiconductors (NXPI), Starbucks (SBUX), Mastercard (MA) and Eli Lilly (LLY). Next week ends with the “Woodstock for Capitalists,” the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting on Saturday.

Earnings Season At A Glance

According to FactSet, 84% of S&P 500 companies are reporting earnings above the consensus estimates, with 28% of companies having released results.

Earnings Estimates Continue To Improve

Companies reporting and combining actual results with consensus estimates for companies yet to report, the S&P 500’s blended earnings growth rate for the quarter is 15.1% year over year, above the 13.2% expectations at the end of the quarter. Notably, the expected earnings growth rate for calendar year 2026 is 18.6%, while the estimated growth for 2027 is 16.1%.

Markets Rise But Breadth Weakens

The S&P 500 rose last week despite shakier hopes of an end to the Iran conflict and rising oil prices. The Magnificent 7 — Microsoft (MSFT),........

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