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[sludgehound]

3/4 Cos warn on 3Q earnings, beats 4Q-1Q

12:48 EDT - Companies are warning about their profits more than normal--but they are more sanguine than earlier this year, when the US economy made a surprise contraction. Out of 109 firms guiding on 3Q earnings, 76% say they would be worse than expected, according to FactSet. That is more than the 67%, on average, that have warned about profits over the past five years, and more than 2Q, when 74% of companies warned. Still, that marks an improvement from 1Q of this year and 4Q of last year, when more than 80% of companies said profits would be lower than forecast. (alexandra.scaggs@ wsj.com; @alexandrascaggs)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires
09-30-14 1248ET
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