Earnings season has officially kicked into high gear: 39 companies have reported so far, with the S&P 500 reporting an earnings per share (EPS) surprise of 6.8%.

According to institutional data provider Capital IQ, the best surprises include increases in financials at 17.9%, consumer discretionary at 10.3%, and materials at 3.7%.

One of the biggest winners so far is First Horizon National (FHN), which beat estimates by 1,400%, and Alcoa (AA) at 146%. Last week, Google (GOOG) managed to report amazing earnings of $8.74 per share, far above estimates of $7.82. The search engine giant continues to wow and reward investors.

Here are more highlights as reported by Capital IQ Consensus Estimate:

Sector	Above	Match	Below	Surprise	Reported	Index
Consumer discretionary	79%	14%	7%	10.3%	14	79
Consumer staples	50%	17%	33%	0.8%	6	41
Energy	-	-	-	0%	0	41
Financials	83%	0%	17%	17.9%	6	81
Health care	-	-	-	0%	0	52
Industrials	50%	50%	0%	1.6%	2	60
Information technology	78%	11%	11%	(0.2%)	9	75
Materials	50%	0%	50%	3.7%	2	30
Telecom	-	-	-	0%	0	8
Utilities	-	-	-	0%	0	33
S&P 500	72%	13%	15%	6.8%	39	500

Source: Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, a division of Standard & Poor's

This week, more than 100 companies are expected to report earnings. Highlights include IBM (IBM), which reported last night with earnings of $3.09 per share that beat the estimate of $3.03, Apple (AAPL) with an estimate of $5.86, and General Electric (GE) with an estimate of $0.32.

We'll bring you the latest on all of these as they report. In the meantime, investors in these stocks should read the full quarterly reports to see how each company is performing and learn what management thinks about the current industry climate. These companies' conference call transcripts can also add more depth to your research.

Jordan DiPietro owns no shares of the companies mentioned in this article. The Motley Fool owns shares of IBM, Apple, and Google. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Apple and Google as well as creating a bull call spread position in Apple.

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Earnings season unofficially kicks off today, but 26 companies have already reported for the second quarter of this year.
According to institutional data provider Capital IQ, here are some of the highlights so far:

• As a whole, the S&P 500 has reported an upside EPS surprise of 5%.
• The sectors expected to perform best include Materials (up 49.6%), Energy (up 34.4%), and Industrials (up 13.3%).
• One of the quarter's biggest winners so far is Discovery Financial Services (DFS) up 230.3%. Another big winner is Monsanto (MON), which is up 55.6%.
• On the losing side is Micron Technology (MU) with its negative 83.7% surprise.

• Alcoa (AA) is expected to report EPS of $0.33.
• Google (GOOG) is supposed to report EPS of $7.79.
• JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is expected to report EPS of $1.20.

We'll bring you the latest on all of these as they report. In the meantime, investors in these stocks should read the full quarterly reports to see how each company is performing, and learn what management thinks about the current industry climate. These companies' conference-call transcripts can also add more depth to your research.

Motley Fool analyst Jordan DiPietro owns no shares of companies mentioned in this article. The Motley Fool owns shares of JPMorgan Chase and Google.

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