Over the past decade the S&P 500 has seen a total return of 252.2% (12/31/09 through 12/17/19), which translates to a compound annual total return rate of 13.5%. Over that time two new sectors were added to the index. The real estate sector was separated from the financials sector and the communication services sector was created by removing the telecommunications services sector and pulling constituents from the information technology and consumer discretionary sectors. The information technology sector posted the greatest compound annual total return of 17.3%. Within the sector, the software & services (17.8%) and semiconductors & semiconductor equipment (17.3%)

The battle for the cloud is under way and the two juggernauts, Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), in the space are expected to see their cloud year-over-year (YoY) revenues grow by double digits through 2021. Microsoft reported after the close on Oct. 23. Its Azure business increased 59% from the prior year, with Intelligent Cloud business segment revenue coming in 4.1% above estimates at $10.85 billion. Speaking about the cloud’s growth, Satya Nadella, Microsoft Corporation – CEO & Director, said, “Every Fortune 500 customer today is on a cloud migration journey, and we are making it faster and

Retailing giant Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) is scheduled to report 19Q3 earnings after the close on Oct. 24. The company known for industry disruption is expected to increase third quarter ad-revenue 71.7% from the prior year and to far outpace the 14.2% outlook for the S&P 500 media entertainment industry group. Analysts also anticipate that Amazon will outperform the S&P 500’s interactive media & services industry (19.5%), which consists of names such as Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O, GOOG.O), Facebook Inc (FB.O), and Twitter Inc (TWTR.N).

The StarMine team has selected five North American companies, using Eikon Screener by Refinitiv, that we expect to beat 19Q1 earnings estimates, based on SmartEstimate® and Predicted Surprise data. Our North American selections for 2018 Q4 positive Predicted Surprises were 100% accurate, which can be seen here. Historically (since 2011 Q4), our positive Predicted Surprise picks have demonstrated an accuracy rate of about 81.9%, giving investors an edge ahead of earnings announcements. Our North American picks for positive Predicted Surprises in 2019 Q1 are — Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd (FFH.TO), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc (RARE.O), Whiting Petroleum Corp (WLL.N), Paccar Inc

A historic week saw the Dow Jones Industrials Average (.DJI) close above 20K for the first time, President Trump’s first week in office, and a flood of fourth quarter earnings from 108 S&P 500 constituents.

Out of 174 S&P 500 companies, 69% reported earnings above expectations for the week of Oct. 24, 2016.

Click here to view the dashboard in detail. Aggregate Estimates and Revisions Third quarter earnings are expected to increase 3.0% from Q3 2015. Excluding the energy sector, the earnings growth estimate improves to 6.7%. Of the 290 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings to date for Q3 2016, 72.8% have reported earnings above analyst expectations. This is above the long-term average of 64% and above the average over the past four quarters of 70%. The Q3 2016 blended revenue growth estimate is 2.5%. Excluding the energy sector, the revenue growth estimate increases to 4.4%. 56% of companies have reported Q3 2016 revenue