(Bloomberg) -- As another quarterly earnings season from Corporate America enters its final stretch, this much is clear: The long-awaited recovery in the companies that were left out of the artificial-intelligence frenzy has finally begun.
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Signs of the turnaround are unmissable. For several quarters, profit growth in the seven biggest technology companies was driving gains for the S&P 500 Index. That is about to change, as the rest of the stocks in the benchmark, excluding the so-called “Magnificent Seven,” are on pace to deliver their first profit growth since the fourth quarter of 2022, data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence show.
“This broader earnings strength is a positive as it provides portfolio managers more opportunities beyond just a few stocks and provides a more balanced market,” said Keith Lerner, co-chief investment officer at Truist Advisory Services.
Though more than 80% of the S&P 500 members have already reported, major bellwethers for the health of the US consumers — such as Home Depot Inc., Walmart Inc. and Target Corp. — have not yet announced their numbers. The clues they reveal about consumer spending will be closely watched as traders remain jittery about the possibility of an economic slowdown. Also, Nvidia Corp., which is arguably the most important stock for investors interested in artificial intelligence, is scheduled to report later this month.
Here are some of the highlights of earnings season so far:
Broadening Growth
The biggest takeaway has been slowing profit growth of large-cap companies, as smaller names started to hit their stride.
The BI data show that earnings for S&P 500 companies, excluding the Magnificent Seven, are set to grow 7.4% in the second quarter from the same time a year ago, after five straight quarters of declines. Profits for the mega-cap tech group — Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., Tesla Inc. and Nvidia — are set to rise 35%. It’s a brisk pace, to be sure, but one that represents a sharp slowdown from even bigger gains over the past year.
Earnings strength spreading out to the wider market can add more fuel to what has already been a drastic rotation away from large-cap stocks and into smaller companies and market laggards. The investor shift was first sparked by a cooler-than-expected inflation read in July.