Profit warnings mount More than 700 companies have issued 3Q warnings; many cite attacks By Staff Writer John Chartier October 5, 2001: 2:11 p.m. ET NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Hundreds of companies are set to report dismal quarterly results in the coming weeks and many will pin the blame on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which have turned an already weak profit picture into a rout.
With more than 700 companies in travel, technology, insurance, financial, media and other sectors warning of lower third-quarter profits, attention is now shifting from the economy to earnings as firms prepare to announce their results over the next three or four weeks.
Since Sept. 11, when terrorists hijacked commercial jetliners and crashed them into New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing thousands, 285 companies have issued warnings, according to earnings tracker First Call.
Analysts expect earnings of Standard & Poor's 500 index companies will drop 21.3 percent from the year-earlier period compared with a 14.6 percent drop expected the day before the attacks, according to First Call.
Those forecasts may be outdated, given that many companies have not provided specific guidance since issuing earnings warnings.
Nevertheless, some believe the crushing warnings and lowered profit expectations may have brought overvalued stocks to within more realistic price-to-earnings ratios, better positioning them for a rebound when the economy recovers.
"It's like somebody stuck their finger in there and pushed the pendulum to the pessimistic side, so it'll probably swing out further," said Chuck Hill, First Call's director of research. "So the back swing is probably going to have a lot more momentum than it would have had otherwise. The negative is the news is going to be worse in the short-term, but we're probably going to get over it sooner."
Meanwhile, near-term prospects are bleak.
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