Ken Fisher Shares His Thoughts on an Underappreciated Positive: Corporate Earnings

Fisher Investments’ founder, Executive Chairman and Co-Chief Investment Officer Ken Fisher shares why he believes corporate earnings season generally is not a strong market driver. According to Ken, the stock market pre-prices all widely known information, such as the health of the economy alongside strengths and weaknesses within sectors and categories. While there are always exceptions, Ken says most companies’ earnings are consistent with their respective categories and consensus expectations.

Ken explains that the number of individual companies that surprise during earnings season—performing differently from their respective categories—is lower than most would expect. Though earnings season may seem important, Ken believes focusing on categories of stocks you expect to outperform moving forward tends to be a more effective investment strategy than focusing on individual companies’ earnings announcements.