"Earnings are growing almost 30%" sounds like a broad boom. FactSet's numbers suggest it's more concentrated than that. All figures are from FactSet's Oct 16, 2026 Earnings Insight and its Oct 19, 2026 post, and may change as more companies report.
The headline
- Blended Q3 2026 S&P 500 earnings growth: 29.0% (as of Oct 16). If that holds, FactSet says it's the third straight quarter above 25%.
- Excluding Micron and NVIDIA: 20.0%.
So two chip companies account for roughly 9 percentage points of the index's growth (our math: 29.0 − 20.0).
Top five contributors
In order, per FactSet: Micron, NVIDIA, Meta, EchoStar and Boeing.
FactSet adds that Meta, EchoStar and Boeing benefit from easy comparisons: their year-ago numbers included big one-time charges. Micron and NVIDIA's contributions come from actual growth.
Why Micron and NVIDIA
Micron reported fiscal Q4 2026 (ended Sep 3) on Sept 30: revenue of $54.23B vs $11.32B a year earlier, and GAAP net income of $37.70B, per its release. Full breakdown: Micron's record FQ4.
NVIDIA hasn't reported its October quarter yet, so its contribution is an estimate. It guided to $108.0B of revenue on Aug 26, 2026, per its Q2 FY27 release. See our NVIDIA Q3 preview.
Both are riding AI demand for chips and memory; background in why RAM is so expensive.
The Magnificent 7
As of Oct 19, FactSet estimated:
- Mag 7 Q3 earnings growth: 33.2%
- Other 493 companies: 27.7%
- Mag 7 without NVIDIA and Meta: 7.5%
For Q4 2026, analysts expect the Mag 7 to grow 23.6% vs 30.6% for the other 493. If that happens, FactSet says it would be the first time the Mag 7 trailed since Q4 2022.
Meta and Tesla reported Oct 21: see Meta's Q3 and Tesla's Q3. Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Apple are next; see Big Tech earnings week.
Early-season caveats
As of Oct 16, only 9% of S&P 500 companies had reported. Of those, 84% beat EPS estimates and 67% beat revenue estimates. FactSet put the forward 12-month P/E at 19.0, below the 5-year (19.8) and 10-year (19.1) averages. Not sure what a "beat" means? Read EPS, beats and guidance explained.
