How These Top Companies Foresee Global Economy?

Bangalore: In the current year, when we go through the results revealed by more than 85 percent of S&P 500 companies, it seems that the earnings season is winding down. According to the highlights from FactSet - a global provider of financial research solutions - 70 percent companies have reported earnings that are above analysts’ estimates. The earnings growth rate is 4.3 percent. 43 percent companies showing lowest rates since Q1 2009, beating sales estimates.

At this point, rather than seeking for company-specific performance, it is better to know what these industry leaders themselves have to say on global economy. We have to see how companies have survived in 2012’s rough weather; and what are their expectations for the coming months in the year.

Here are a list of top firms who reveal their views on global economy and state how do they stand against the 2012 scenario.

1. McDonald expects healthcare costs to be manageable

McDonald shows their expectation that the healthcare costs under the recently upheld Supreme Court ruling to be more manageable than the analysts’ anticipation.

They say: "Our current estimate is healthcare is going to impact each individual restaurant in the range of $10,000 to $30,000 ... And on a just a dollar basis that $10,000 to $30,000, we have years like last year where commodity cost increases were even greater than that. So while this is a significant item and it’s gaining a lot of attention as the P&L item we’ve managed through items of this magnitude in the past and I’m hopeful we can do that in future."