From Political Calculations:
The current edition
of Standard and Poor's S&P 500 Earnings and Estimates spreadsheet
features a pretty remarkable chart, showing how the future expectations
for the index' operating earnings per share for the second quarter of
2012 has changed from 18 April 2011 through 8 March 2012.
In the chart, we can see that the future for expected earnings in
2012-Q2 isn't as bright as it used to be, as the forecast future
operating earnings per share for the S&P 500 is more than $2.00 per
share less than it was when it peaked just seven months ago!
What a difference that seven months can make!
But those are operating earnings per share - what about actual (or
"As Reported") earnings per share? The sum of all the actual earnings
that the 500 companies that make up the S&P 500 index will
collectively record in their financial statements, divided by their
collective number of shares outstanding?...MORE
