Nearly 4 in 5 US companies have posted second-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street estimates

• As of Monday, 87 companies had reported their Q2 earnings – 78% of which beat analysts' expectations.
• Some of the biggest names to beat the Street this quarter are Tesla, Bank of America, and Philip Morris.

The US second-quarter earnings season is well underway. As of Monday afternoon, 87 companies had released their results, with big names such as Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft all scheduled to report later this week.

Nearly four in five firms that have released their financial figures topped analysts' expectations, according to Jurrien Timmer, director of global macro at Fidelity Investments, indicating reasonable success across the board. On average, each company exceeded estimates by an average of 6.2%, he said.

"Q2 earnings season is underway, with 87 companies reporting so far. The good news: 78% percent of them beat estimates, by an average 6.2%. We have to wait another week to see if we get a similar bounce as in Q1," Timmer said in a tweet on Monday.

Among the biggest names, Tesla reported a 20% earnings jump to 91 cents per share, surpassing analysts' estimate for 82. Bank of America posted earnings of 88 cents per share, beating expectations for 84.

Goldman Sachs saw a 58% slump in second-quarter profits from a year earlier, thanks to a drop in investment banking and trading revenue.

While earnings estimates have, for most companies, beaten targets, Fidelity's Timmer warns investors not to get carried away. He pointed out that firms may issue conservative profit guidances that are easily exceeded.

"It's the oldest trick in the book," he tweeted in response to another Twitter user. "Guide lower and then beat."

"We'll know a lot more by the end of the week," Timmer wrote, referring to the upcoming financial results for several of the tech giants, including Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, which will test the mettle of the tech sector's storming rally in 2023.