EarningsStreak · Earnings growth · Loh and Warachka (2012)

Earnings surprise streak

Long minus short decile portfolio, value-weighted, market-adjusted. Quarterly, 1985Q1 to 2024Q4.

Expected return · posterior mean, % per year, averaged over the window
Next quarter
2026Q4
6.78%
95% interval 1.90% to 11.45%
Next year
2026Q4–2027Q3
6.83%
95% interval 1.91% to 11.48%
Next five years
2026Q4–2031Q3
6.95%
95% interval 1.77% to 11.68%

Forecast made 16 Sep 2026, conditioning on this portfolio's OAP returns, which end 2024Q4. The 7 quarters between then and 2026Q4 are unobserved and are integrated out under the model.

Cumulative market-adjusted return

+4,007% since 1985Q1 · log scale

Past performance, annualized

Window Mean Vol. Sharpe t
1985Q1–2024Q4 10.13% 12.36% 0.82 5.18
2020Q1–2024Q4 11.78% 13.78% 0.85 1.91
2024Q1–2024Q4 −1.83% 10.46% −0.18 −0.18

Forecast Sharpe ratio, annualized

Window Mean 95% interval P(neg)
2026Q4 0.55 0.15 – 0.93 <0.01
2026Q4–2027Q3 0.53 0.14 – 0.91 <0.01
2026Q4–2031Q3 0.47 0.09 – 0.90 <0.01
Category
Earnings growth
Form
Continuous
Data
Accounting
Sorted on
High minus low
Names per leg
225 long / 224.5 short median · 123.2 at the 10th pctile
Original sample
1987–2009