Chuck Hill
Chuck Hill
deviation expected percent quarter
Any deviation from that 15 percent for the quarter is expected to be lower, not higher.
beat definitely earnings fourth further maybe negative prospects somewhere
I think we'll probably end up somewhere around negative 4 or negative 5 percent. Some will probably beat expectations, but not many. Down earnings is definitely in the cards, and the prospects of maybe even down earnings further in the fourth quarter.
pain
I think there'll be more pain and suffering.
earnings growth heading market stock
We really thought growth would taper off heading into 2000 and it hasn't. It isn't going to be earnings that prick the stock market bubble.
beginning bit confession disturbing early expect higher negative normal normally number running somewhat
Well, it's still the beginning of the so-called confession season, but it is a little disturbing in that we're running somewhat higher than the normal number of pre-announcements that we would expect this early. And we're running a little bit more negative than we normally do at this early stage.
extremely good
You are going to have extremely good results.
bit despite earnings fourth good growth highest less match negative peak percent pessimism quarter running seen since time
Overall, the quarter is going to be excellent. We think it will match the 23.6 percent earnings growth for the first quarter, which was the highest we'd seen since back in the fourth quarter of 1993. It's going to be a very good quarter for earnings despite all the pessimism here during the peak time of pre-announcements. But pre-announcements are running a little bit less negative than they usually do so I think it's a bit of an over-reaction.
peak takes weeks worse
It always takes a toll. These are the peak weeks for warnings and it's going to be worse than normal, but we probably need a little of that.
absorb built lines time
We built too many fiber-optic lines to nowhere. It will take some time to absorb that.
critical less negative question
The critical question isn't are we having a lot of negative pre-announcements, but are we having more or less than normal.
brings good people somewhat
We'll probably get somewhat of an overreaction to the pre-announcements but that will be good because it brings people back to reality.
beat excited gets market
We know the market always gets excited when we beat the numbers.
forecast growth march minus percent technology
We forecast technology as a whole for 11 percent growth as of Jan. 2. As of March 20, it's at minus 7 percent.
bounce business looking numbers
Utilities are pretty much business as usual. In the aggregate, we see the numbers bounce around some, but this will change. We're still looking at better-than-normal performance.