Earnings Scoreboard - Will AI deliver ROI?

 

Renée Friedman, Global Head of Research

Horacio Coutino, Multi-asset Strategist

“All the big tech hyperscalers, they haven't given their 2025 volumes yet, but if you take their 2024 volumes and then double it, and this is output. So I'm going to transfer it back to capacity... and you assume a 60% capacity factor. All the hyperscalers combine around 15 GW. And that's got to be over half the data center demand. So to talk about 95 GW... I mean it's a staggering number.”

— Andy DeVries, Co-Head US Investment Grade Credit at CreditSights, Senior Utilities & Power Analyst, on Odd Lots, on 2nd February, 2026.

Who’s scoring highest and why

During the week of 26th January, 103 S&P 500 companies (including 12 Dow Jones Industrial Average components) reported earnings. The final week of January delivered a mixed earnings narrative that set the tone for what's shaping up to be a make-or-break period in early February. While corporate America continues to beat expectations at a healthy clip, the market's reaction has been notably underwhelming.

As of 30th January, 76.5% of the 166 S&P 500 companies that have reported beat earnings expectations, while 66.3% surpassed revenue forecasts, signifying a strong beginning to this earnings season. According to FactSet, the blended Q4 earnings growth rate stands at 11.9%, higher than last week’s 8.2% and higher than the 8.3% projected at the end of the quarter on 31st December. This earnings season appears set to deliver the tenth consecutive quarter of positive earnings growth for the index, as well as the fifth straight quarter of double-digit y/o/y earnings expansion. The S&P 500 last saw four straight quarters of double-digit earnings growth throughout 2021.

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