Almost all of the 417 constituents of the MSCI Europe index of larger companies have reported so far in this earnings season (97% to be precise), and most of those that beat market expectations saw their shares rewarded with a good jump.
Not all of them, however.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) says a net 16% of companies have beaten earnings per share forecasts, with earnings having come in 3.2% above consensus on a weighted basis.
Banks, aerospace & defence, semiconductors and telecoms leading the way.
Earnings revisions have turned positive in the past two weeks, driven by financials, while commodities are on the downside.
A number of stocks were highlighted by equity strategist Regiane Yamanari where positive results were followed by an underwhelming price reaction, with the shares dropping or only inching slightly upwards.
The "top picks" from this group were Barclays PLC (LSE:BARC), Intesa Sanpaolo, Publicis, Getlink and Saint-Gobain.
These companies' results have surprised to the upside versus consensus, with analysts also anticipating positive earnings revisions post results but the share price has been negative or only slightly up relative to the market since results, with the stocks also needing to be rated 'overweight' or 'equal-weight' by the bank's analysts.
Other London-listed names in the list were HSBC Holdings PLC and Jupiter Fund Management PLC (LSE:JUP).