US corporate earnings have been pressured by plunging oil prices and the strong dollar.
Largely due to these two forces, analysts estimate that there was barely any earnings growth among the big, publicly-traded US companies during the first three months of the year.
"Reported headline growth (blended) is weak in the US (0.2%) but strong in Europe (16.8%) and Japan (16.5%) with earnings growth across all regions and most sectors being driven more by margin expansion than top line growth," Deutsche Bank Chief Strategist Binky Chadha said in a note to clients.
Some folks, however, would argue that the effects of oil costs and currency translations mask the underlying health of these companies and their profits.
In his note, Chadha offers a look at a what earnings growth would be adjusted for the impacts of oil and foreign exchange. According to his analysis, the oil price swing cut 7.2 percentage points from earnings growth and the stronger dollar hacked 4.3 percentage points.
"We focus on underlying growth excluding them and this is running very strong in all three regions (US 11.7%, Europe 15.4%, Japan 16.4%)," Chadha said.
For what it's worth, 11.7% growth sure is a lot more robust than 0% growth.
Deutsche Bank