S&P 500 Earnings Season Opens; Q2 EPS Expected Up 22%, Piper Sandler Eyes Further Upside

According to Piper Sandler, S&P 500 second-quarter earnings season opened with EPS growth expected at approximately 22% year-over-year. The investment firm believes U.S. companies not only have the capacity to meet this historically high earnings target but could exceed Wall Street expectations.

Enterprise earnings have been the primary driver of the S&P 500's gains this year. Through July 10, the index rose 10.7% year-to-date, with earnings growth contributing approximately 18.5 percentage points of gains, while P/E compression offset nearly 8 percentage points. Piper Sandler's chief investment strategist Michael Kantrowitz noted that "earnings growth has been the main driver of market performance this year."