Wall Street expects a weak first-quarter earnings season, which kicks off next week with results from JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and other major U.S. banks. But more than a dozen Club holdings, including Amazon (AMZN) and Caterpillar (CAT), are projected to buck the trend and grow profits. First-quarter earnings per share for the S & P 500 are set to decline by 7% compared with the year-ago period, Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients Wednesday. That would be a “significant deterioration” from the 1% decline in the broad index’s fourth-quarter EPS , the firm said, and the largest year-over-year drop since the third quarter of 2020. Goldman sees margin compression as the main driver of the decline. The earnings picture will, of course, vary underneath the hood. That’s why we spend less time worrying what the S & P 500 will earn and focus more on how individual companies are performing . Some S & P 500 sectors, like consumer discretionary and energy, are poised to grow profits compared with 2022, according to Goldman. Materials and health care, meanwhile, are expected to see the biggest EPS contraction. The health-care part is interesting, because the industry is usually seen as stable earnings growers. But keep in mind many companies are lapping Covid-driven sales from last year. Within the Club’s portfolio, we found 14 companies that are set to report positive earnings growth this earnings season, according to FactSet estimates. We ranked them by projected percentage increase. Our list does not include Wynn Resorts (WYNN), because the casino operator is projected to remain unprofitable in the quarter. However, analysts expect its loss-per-share to shrink to 17 cents from $1.21 year ago as its Macau business recovers from China’s strict Covid controls. It’s still important to highlight Wynn, though, since improvement to the bottom line is encouraging. In fact, Wynn’s second-quarter ending in June is expected to be Wynn’s first period with positive EPS since…
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