FactSet's October 23, 2026 note puts two growth rates on the S&P 500 for the third quarter. Blended earnings are up 29.5% from a year earlier. Blended revenue is up 12.7%. John Butters counts a blended rate as reported results for companies that have published, plus estimates for companies that have not. On that date, 24% of the companies in the index had reported. The quarter's final growth rate is still open.

Ten of the eleven sectors show earnings growth from a year earlier. Health care is the sector with an earnings decline.

Ten sectors' earnings are up

Energy earnings are up 136.0%. Information technology earnings are up 65.6%. The index blend, 29.5%, sits under those two and over the rest of the sectors that are still growing. On the revenue row, all eleven sectors are up from a year earlier. The index revenue figure is 12.7%. Health care's earnings decline sits beside a revenue increase for every sector in this note.

FactSet ties the energy earnings increase to oil. The average oil price in the third quarter of 2026 was $85.68, 32% above the $64.97 average in the third quarter of 2025.

| Group | Earnings vs a year earlier | | --- | --- | | Energy | up 136.0% | | Information technology | up 65.6% | | S&P 500, blended | up 29.5% | | Health care | down 1.2% |

The health-care decline is the pharmaceuticals line

Inside health care, pharmaceuticals earnings are down 17%. The other five industries in the sector are up. Health care technology, life sciences tools and services, and biotechnology are each up 13%. Health care providers and services are up 8%. Health care equipment and supplies are up 6%. FactSet's arithmetic says that leaving pharmaceuticals out would turn the sector figure from a 1.2% decline into growth of 9.4%.

The 1.2% decline is the October 23 blend, not a closed set of company reports. On September 30, FactSet's estimate for health care earnings was growth of 5.5%. The note traces the change to lower mean earnings-per-share estimates for Eli Lilly, from $9.92 to $5.70, and for Bristol-Myers Squibb, from $1.73 to $1.10, after many analysts began including in-process research and development charges in those estimates.

A reader who stops at 29.5% has the index blend for October 23, with most companies still on estimates. The earnings row and the revenue row are both up for the index. Health care earnings, and inside them the pharmaceuticals line, are the decline on the earnings row. The note does not name a share to buy.

Sources