Analysts cut the S&P 500 Q2 bottom-up earnings per share (EPS) estimates by 0.7%, from US$32.12 to US$31.89. As FactSet reports, the decline was the smallest cut during the first month of a quarter since 2014, and was lower than average quarterly cuts over the past 5 years (2.3%), and 10 years (2.5%).
While the bottom-up EPS estimate declined, April also saw the value of the S&P 500 increase, up 1.1% from March 31 through April 28. This marks the thirteenth time over the past 20 quarters that the value of the index rose while the EPS estimate was down during the first month of the quarter.