We're past the halfway mark of Q1 2026 earnings season, with 63% of S&P 500 companies having reported. Per FactSet, results have been strong across the board. 84% have beaten EPS estimates, 81% have beaten revenue estimates, and the blended earnings growth rate sits at 27.1%, which would mark the highest growth rate since Q4 2021 if it holds. The S&P 500 forward P/E sits at 20.9x, just slightly above the 5-year average of 19.9x.

This recap covers S&P Global, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft. Worth noting upfront that going forward, I plan to reduce all coverage of Mag 7 names. Given their weight in most indices, the hurdle rate for owning them in a concentrated portfolio is significantly higher than most people think. My research time is better spent on underfollowed businesses, where there's both room for differentiated work and a real opportunity for consensus to be wrong. More on this topic to follow in the near future.

Disclaimer: This is not financial or investment advice. I'm sharing my personal investment decisions and reasoning for educational and informational purposes. Always do your own research before making any investment decisions.