by Jared Levy on June 3rd, 2010
*Data courtesy of Bloomberg
So the second-quarter earnings season has basically ended and the S&P 500 Index (SPX) just had its worst monthly performance in almost 50 years, dropping 8.2% in May. In terms of earnings numbers for the overall index and the 500 companies that comprise it, the results were not horrific compared to past monthly earnings results and the movements of the index in response to that data.
Of the 496 companies currently contained in the index, 467 have reported results for the last quarter as of June 2, 2010. Overall year-over-year growth was 53.68% with 345 of the companies posting positive growth and 114 reporting negative growth. The biggest jump in terms of year-over-year growth was in the materials sector, which collectively saw a 367% jump in earnings. The worst sector was telecom, which saw negative earnings growth of 4.22%. Additionally, 82% of the companies in the S&P surprised analysts’ expectations to the upside.
So far, with the index at 1079, the trailing price-to-earnings (p/e) ratio of the S&P is …