Absent Guidance Takes Shine Off Europe’s Stellar Earnings Season
- Companies beat profit estimates, but reluctant to give a steer
- Cash flow, margins and dividend resumptions among key issues
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With Europe’s results season wrapping up, the main takeaway has been not the broadest earnings beat in about 14 years, but rather a dearth of guidance from many companies on a still uncertain future.
Only about 55% of firms reporting over the past six weeks have offered some form of guidance, according to Bloomberg Intelligence data, reflecting low visibility over when and how quickly economies will rebound after the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines. Those giving no outlook saw an average share-price drop of 1.6% on the day of their results versus the Stoxx 600 Index, the data show.