European financial sector earnings are expected to grow by 24% in this year, according to estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ.
Having aggregated earnings forecasts for the S&P Europe 350 index, analysts predicted corporate earnings across the index to grow by 9.3%.
Apart from the financial sector, earnings in industrials and utilities are also expected to grow at above average rates of 13% and 10%, respectively.
The information technology sector, on the other hand, faces an 11% decline for 2012, while the healthcare and materials sectors’ earnings are expected to grow by just 0.4% and 1.6%.
“…earnings growth in 2012 for the S&P Europe 350 is the lowest since we began aggregating analysts’ earnings forecasts in July 2011, when earnings growth expectations for 2012 were at 13%,” said Victoria Chernykh, director at S&P Capital IQ and a member of the global markets intelligence research team.
“Furthermore, the high expected growth in financial sector earnings is somewhat inflated due to comparisons with a relatively low earnings base in 2011.”
©2012 funds europe
