Investors want CEOs to say what’s next

Earnings calls likely to focus on 2019 trends

NEW YORK — Forget about “What have you done for me lately?” The big question investors will be asking companies this upcoming earnings season is: What will you do next?

Companies are lining up to tell investors how much they made during the last three months of 2018. The reports get going in earnest this week with Citigroup and a slew of other banks on deck. Expectations are high, and Wall Street is forecasting a fifth straight quarter where profit growth topped 10 percent for S&P 500 companies.

Markets could use some encouragement following the worst December for stocks since the Great Depression. But companies’ performance over the last three months likely do not interest investors as much aswhat they have to say about the trends for 2019.

Economic growth around the world is expected to slow this year, and rising payroll costs could be eating into company profits. Trying to judge the impact on profits, investors will pay more attention to the conference calls that CEOs hold with analysts and shareholders after reporting their results.

“The market is going to be very focused on the calls,” said Ernie Cecilia, chief investment officer at Bryn Mawr Trust. “It’s going to be about revenue expectations and margins more than anything.”

Analysts have been expecting profit growth to slow for companies in 2019 following their blowout 2018, when lower tax rates provided a big, one-time boost. Wall Street has been slashing its forecasts for 2019 profit growth in recent weeks.

Without the tax benefit, companies need to drum up more revenue or extract more profit from their sales to push their profits higher. And some big-name companies have cited pain caused by other challenges, such as the global trade war.

Apple, for example, shocked Wall Street this month when it slashed its revenue forecast for the final quarter of 2018 and said China’s economy was slowing more sharply than it expected. Rival Samsung cited weak global demand for chips when it said it expects a roughly 29 percent drop in operating profit for the fourth quarter.

Wall Street is now forecasting earnings growth for S&P 500 companies to drop by more than half to 7 percent this year from 20 percent in 2018. Three months ago, analysts were forecasting a healthier 10 percent jump in 2019 earnings.

Southwest Medical Associates, part of OptumCare, added eight new healthcare providers: Michael Albring,

MD, joins as a hospitalist.

Cornell Clark, MD, joins the Rancho Health Care Center and specializes in urgent care.

Amanda Dickerson, APRN, joins the Eastern Health Care Center and specializes in adult medicine. Pei-Chi Fu, MD, joins the Siena Heights Health Care Center and specializes in adult medicine. Diane Johnson,

PA-C, joins the Lake Mead Parkway Health Care Center and specializes in adult medicine.

Kevin Refahiyat, PA-C, joins Durango Convenient Care Center and specializes in urgent care.

Hae Ran “Helen” Rhim-Kim,

Richard Vogel The Associated Press Bank of America (whose downtown Los Angeles building is shown here) and Citigroup are among the financial services companies scheduled to release earnings reports this week.