European fourth-quarter corporate earnings seen shrinking 0.5%
12/03/2026 14:22
March 12 (Reuters) - Estimates for European blue-chip companies' fourth-quarter earnings have slightly deteriorated, the latest LSEG I/B/E/S data showed on Thursday, leaving them on track for their worst earnings season in the past two years. Year-on-year earnings of major European companies are now expected to have shrunk 0.5% in the final quarter of 2025, based on results from 249 STOXX 600 .STOXX companies and market estimates for those that are yet to report, the data showed. Still, European blue-chips have bucked even more dismal expectations in recent weeks, as forecasts at the end of January anticipated 4% year-on-year declines. This week's blended earnings growth is slightly worse than the 0.4% fall estimated last week Revenues, on the other hand, have improved and are now expected to fall 3.6% year-on-year, compared to last week's 4.2% decrease Estimates for European corporate results acutely worsened throughout 2025, as months of trade upheaval caused by erratic U.S. policy forced companies to reassess strategies and supply chains Q4 earnings of European blue-chips were forecast to grow as much as 11.1% in February 2025, before Trump announced plans for global tariffs Earnings of STOXX 600 companies are in stark contrast with those of U.S. listed ones, a separate LSEG report showed on Friday Blended earnings growth of S&P 500 .SPX firms is estimated at 14.1%, based on results from 492 of the companies and estimates for the rest, the report showed Despite that, last week German asset manager DWS DWSG.DE said concerns remained about U.S. stocks' exposure to AI, after fears over AI returns sparked a selloff of tech companies in February "Because of the uncertainty that is attached to AI, we are favouring the less technology-heavy European and Japanese equity markets over the U.S. market," it said in a note Blended Q4 2025 earnings estimates for STOXX 600 companies https://reut.rs/40nB3TX (Reporting by Javi West Larrañaga; Editing by Matt Scuffham) ((javier.west@thomsonreuters.com +34 918 35 61 12;))