A single Wall Street analyst is responsible for skewing the revenue picture of the whole stock market.
UBS analyst Brian Meredith slashed his fourth-quarter revenue estimate for Berkshire Hathaway on Tuesday, bringing the consensus forecast down to $48.4 billion from $63.5 billion for the Warren Buffett-led company, according to data provider Refinitiv.
Because of the drastic cut by Meredith and the size and influence of Berkshire Hathaway, the S&P 500‘s total blended revenue growth rate fell to 5.2 percent from 6.1 percent, dropping nearly a full percentage point. The blended rate takes into account companies that have already reported and estimates for those that haven’t released their numbers. Berkshire Hathaway is the fifth-biggest company in the S&P 500 by market value.
According to Refinitiv, Meredith cut his estimate because of “the inclusion of mark-to-market losses.” Berkshire Hathaway is scheduled to release its fourth-quarter results on Saturday morning.
Meredith’s revenue cut also erased the financials sector’s blended growth revenue rate. The consensus for revenue in financials is now for a decline of 3.2 percent from an expansion of 3.9 percent.
