Surprise amid pandemic: Firms across sectors beat Q2 earnings expectations

The September quarter (Q2) earnings season has been among the best surprises in the pandemic-hit FY21. Not only did earnings beat expectations, but the beat was also for a larger number of companies and sectors. As a result, most brokerages have revised upwards their earnings estimates, not only for FY21, but also for FY22.

Analysts at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, led by its head of research-institutional equities, Gautam Duggad, said: “With an upgrade (>5 per cent) to downgrade ratio (< -5 per cent) of over 4:1, this has by far been the best earnings season in many years. Around 63 per