If earnings contract 3percentthethe P/E ratio of the S.& P., based on current prices, would be closer to 17, or higher than the historical norm.
Pretax earnings contracted from $1.56 billion to $322 million.
The tech sector will also be a big loser in the fourth quarter, seeing earnings contract 2.4%, FactSet says.
That rate of growth, however, is down from 8percentt in the fourth quarter, and would be the lowest since the third quarter 2009, when earnings contracted 1.7percentt, according to S&P; Capital IQ.
Both Scottish and Southern Energy and International Power obtain about 10percentt of their earnings from contracts with TXU, estimates Martin Brough of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.
The decision was a definite refusal to extend the doctrine of cases relating to government securities, and to the instrumentalities of government, to earnings under contracts for labor.
However, we also find that the stewardship uses of earnings (debt contracts, managerial compensation) and internal uses (in managing own company) rank closely behind the valuation use.
IBM wont say, for example, what percent of total contract earnings it books on its contracts each year.
The analysts used a third model to assess probability distributions of earnings from the contracts that reflected uncertainties in the number of units, the price per unit, and the profit margin.
The engineering group makes the lion's share of its earnings from maintenance contracts related to its engines and it had not expected airline customers to mothball jets containing its engines earlier than planned.
