Deutsche Bank: Highly optimistic about the latest earnings season, estimates S&P 500 companies' profits will increase by 19%

Glonghui, April 13 – Deutsche Bank is highly optimistic about the first earnings season of the year, estimating that S&P 500 companies' profits will grow by 19% year-on-year, far surpassing the Wall Street market consensus of 16%. The latter figure is already the most optimistic forecast in nearly four years. In a research report to clients, Deutsche Bank listed several key drivers supporting profit growth, including: (1) Energy industry: Soaring oil prices have driven the first quarter profit growth of energy stocks to 10.3%, significantly higher than last quarter's 2.2%; (2) Technology and AI concept stocks: AI beneficiaries such as NVIDIA, Micron Technology, as well as large technology stocks as a whole, are expected to maintain strong growth momentum; (3) Financial industry: Profit growth is expected to nearly double, reaching around 20%; (4) Industrial cyclical stocks: As the ISM Manufacturing Index returns to an expansion range, profit growth for industrial stocks is projected to surge from 2.8% last quarter to 7.9%; (5) Declining US dollar: Deutsche Bank believes US dollar depreciation will contribute an additional 4.1 percentage points to companies' earnings per share, as foreign buyers' purchasing power for US goods and services relatively increases; (6) Materials industry: Buoyed by rising metal prices, profit growth for materials stocks is expected to reach 30%.