Earnings Season Is In the Home Stretch. Here’s What You Need to Know. [Video]

Third-quarter earnings season enters the home stretch this week. The quarter appears to have been mixed for corporate America, with companies broadly beating estimates while scaling back fourth-quarter guidance.

Three-quarters of the companies that had reported earnings as of Friday night had beaten earnings estimates, just below the five-year average of 77%, according to FactSet Research. In aggregate, the index has topped expectations by 4.6%, also below the average. 

On the plus side, last week was better than those that came before it. The index as of Friday had reported earnings growth of 5.1%, up from 3.6% a week earlier. Earnings got a boost from better-than-expected results from Alphabet (GOOG; GOOGL), Meta Platforms (META), and Amazon (AMZN). Apple (AAPL) and Intel (INTC), both of which missed earnings estimates, were a drag on growth. 

Alphabet and Meta have made the Communications Services sector …