Ask Matt: Is earnings season as bad as it seems?

Q: Is earnings season as bad as it seems?

A: Apple’s (AAPL) disappointing first quarter revenue and profit casts a shadow on earnings season. But the gadget maker is more of the exception, than the rule.

So far, 73% of the companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 have beat earnings expectations, says S&P Global Market Intelligence. That’s better than than 66% of companies that usually do. Meanwhile, despite some high-profile misses not only from Apple but also Google’s parent Alphabet (GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT), just 15% of S&P 500 companies have missed earnings expectations. That’s slightly better than the 24% of companies that usually do.

It’s far enough in the earnings season for investors to start getting a feel of the direction, now that about a third of S&P 500 companies have reported their results. Nearly half the companies have beat not just earnings forecasts, but revenue predictions as well. The sectors with the highest percentages of these upside surprises have been consumer discretionary and healthcare. Technology, despite the big-cap whiffs, has seen half its members beat both earnings and revenue forecasts. All this isn’t enough to undo all the pain: Adjusted profits are still expected to fall 8% during the quarter.

Paste BN markets reporter Matt Krantz answers a different reader question every weekday. To submit a question, e-mail Matt at mkrantz@usatoday.com or on Twitter @mattkrantz.