Technically, the third quarter earnings season is not exactly over: 2% of companies are still left to report. Untechnically, it is, and with 98% of S&P500 companies now in the history books, 74% of the companies in the index have reported earnings above the mean estimate but 45%
of the companies have reported sales above the mean estimate.
But while gaming analyst estimates is the oldest trick in the book (and even so more than half of companies are failing to beat on sales), a truly dire picture is revealed when one steps back and looks at the data in historical basis.