Micron and Nvidia Lead S&P 500 Earnings Growth
FactSet projects a 29% earnings growth rate for the S&P 500, driven primarily by semiconductor demand and AI-related gains at Micron and Nvidia.
FactSet reports that the S&P 500 is projected to achieve a blended earnings growth rate of 29% for the third quarter. This growth is heavily concentrated in the semiconductor sector, as the index growth rate would drop to 20% without the contributions of Micron Technology and Nvidia.
Micron Technology experienced earnings growth of more than 1,000% during its August quarter, fueled by soaring demand for memory chips. Nvidia is expected to see a 90% increase in earnings per share for its October quarter as it continues to benefit from the artificial intelligence boom. Alphabet and Amazon also emerged as top contributors following paper gains on equity investments in SpaceX and Anthropic.
Other significant contributors include Meta Platforms, EchoStar, and Boeing. Meta is projected to see earnings growth exceeding 500%, while EchoStar is expected to swing to a 17-cent profit per share. Boeing's growth is attributed to a smaller loss compared to the previous year, which was impacted by a $4.9 billion pretax charge.
