This morning we saw a better-than-expected earnings report from Exxon Mobil (XOM) the second largest S&P 500 company by market cap. The oil behemoth reported Q3 EPS of $1.89, $0.04 higher than the Estimize consensus and $0.13 above the Wall Street consensus, growing 6% YoY. Revenues came in equally as strong, reporting an actual of $107.5B vs Estimize expectations for $104.1B and Street expectations of $100.9B, however this is still 4% lower than the year-ago result. Results were good enough to send the stock higher, up 1.5% so far for the day.The positive surprise was able to boost EPS growth for the Energy sector to 13.7%, but revs still remain in the red at -0.4% due to lower year-over-year oil prices.

Rockwell Collins (COL) also reported results before the bell, the last Q3 release from the S&P 500 Aerospace & Defense companies. Earnings came in at $1.30 per share, beating the Estimize consensus by $0.03 and the Wall Street consensus by $0.04. Revenues also came in stronger than expected at $1.4B, versus the Estimize and Street expectation of $1.34B. All 11 companies in the industry grew YoY with the exception of L-3 Communications. Overall the industry saw profits grow 10.3% during the quarter, which is not much of a surprise after seeing yesterday’s GDP report. The U.S. economy grew at a 3.5% pace in the third quarter, higher than our expectation of 2.9% growth, due in large part to stronger defense spending by the federal government.  

Last night we also got reports from Starbucks, Groupon and LinkedIn (LNKD). Starbucks was able to beat on the bottom-line, but top-line results fell about $63M below Estimize’s expectations. In addition, EPS guidance for fiscal year 2015 were a little light, and the stock tumbled as a result, still down over 2% today. Groupon was able to put up better results, beating on both the top and bottom-line, with those metrics seeing YoY growth of 27% and 50%, respectively.  Even though the company issued forward revenue guidance that was slightly weaker than expectations, investors rewarded the company for great results and the stock is up 20% today. The mixed results for these two consumer discretionary companies also comes on a day when consumer spending for the month of September reports it’s biggest drop in 8 months, yet consumer sentiment improves to a level of 86.9, the highest since July 2007. We’ll get a better read on the health of the consumer as more retailers report results throughout November.

Lastly, results from LinkedIn after yesterday’s closing bell gave us more clues on the U.S. employment situation ahead of next week’s nonfarm payrolls and unemployment report. The company reported Q3 EPS of $0.52, beating the Estimize consensus by $0.02, the Wall Street consensus by $0.05, and even their own guidance by $0.08. Revenues also came in much stronger at $568.3M, beating Estimize, the Street, and guidance. The most promising results came from Talent Solutions products which help recruiters find the right candidates. That segment saw revenues increase by 45% YoY and now makes up 61% of all revenues which certainly bodes well for US jobs.

How Are We Doing?

Expectations for S&P 500 earnings growth for the third quarter stand at 11.7%. Revenues are anticipated to come in with 4.5% growth. All 10 sectors are anticipated to post positive YoY growth on both the earnings and revenue front.

Leaders

Earnings:

Health Care (14.2%). Notable industry: Biotechnology (45.1%)

Materials (14.0%). Notable industry: Metals & Mining (36.5%).

Energy (13.7%). Notable industry: Equipment & Services (13.9%)

Revenues:

Health Care (11.9%). Notable industry: Biotech (38.9%).

Information Technology (7.3%). Notable industry: Software (15.7%)

Laggards

Earnings:

Utilities (4.2%). Notable industry: Electric Utilities (3.1%).

Telecommunication Services (0.9%): All five companies are within Diversified Telecom Services. Only Verizon posted y­o­y growth.

Revenues:

Energy (-0.4%). Notable industry: Oil, Gas and Consumable Fuels (­-1.2%).

Materials (2.6%). Notable industry: Paper & Forest Products (­-14.4%).

Beat/Miss/Match

Earnings: 345 companies have reported thus far, 56% have beaten the Estimize consensus, 33% have missed and 11% have met. This is compared to Wall Street estimates, of which 73% of companies have beat on the bottom­-line, 20% have missed and 7% have met.

Revenue: 52% have beaten the Estimize consensus, 48% have missed, and 0% have met. For revenues, 58% of companies have beat the Wall Street estimate, while 42% have missed.