Corbin Advisors Releases?Q1?26 Inside The Buy-Side? Earnings Primer?

• Investor optimism calibrated for Black Swan-induced uncertainty; notably, bearishness remains below post-tariff announcement levels?
• 4x?increase in investors expecting consensus misses?is registered, though?companies?are?largely anticipated?to maintain 2026 guidance?
• After increasing focus?on?growth in prior surveys, investors prioritize?margins?with concerns?about?compounding?inflation spiking?
• Despite elevated uncertainty, investors?continue to?cite?reinvestment?as?the top preferred use?of cash, followed by debt paydown?
• Geopolitics and Inflation top the list of unaided concerns,?resulting in?Consumer?Health?worries ticking higher?
• Over half believe tariffs?will?Stay the Same?in 2026?with?a majority?expressing little to no confidence in?tariff refunds?
• AI and?the?Iran War are the leading topics of interest?for earnings calls; investors seek details on the?latter?s?impact on energy, inflation, and consumer?behavior?
• 82%?consider?a company?s?AI?strategy?Important?to?Critical?for?their investment selection process?

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HARTFORD, Conn., April 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Corbin Advisors, a strategic investor relations and communications advisory firm with a track record of supporting publicly traded clients in creating sustained shareholder value, today released its quarterly Earnings Primer?, which captures trends in institutional investor sentiment. The survey, which marks the 66th quarterly issue of?Inside The Buy-Side? Earnings Primer?, was conducted from March 5 to April 1, 2026, and is based on responses from 70 institutional investors?representing?~$4.3 trillion?in equity assets under management?and?sell-side analysts globally.?

Following last quarter?s survey, which found resilient optimism buoyed by?lower interest?rate expectations,?growth resilience,?OBBBA benefits, and AI-driven productivity gains?somewhat tempered by concerns about?frothy valuations,?policy impact,?and geopolitics, the Voice of Investor? captured this quarter reveals a?sharp?reversal?in?positive sentiment?amid?Iran War?fallout, largely higher?inflation and?further pressure on the?consumer. Sentiment marks the largest?quarter-over-quarter?pullback in bullishness since?tariffs were announced in?April 2025, but?remains?more upbeat?than?views?registered at that time.??

Indeed, 35% of surveyed investors characterize sentiment as?Neutral to Bullish or Bullish, a significant pullback from 50% last quarter, with 41%?Neutral?to?Bearish?to?Bearish, up from 23%. Meanwhile, executive tone?characterized?as?Neutral to Bullish?or?Bullish?falls to 41% from?66% last survey,?while those?perceiving management as?Neutral?to?Bearish?or?Bearish?more than?doubles?to 26%. The?pullback?marks?the end of three consecutive quarters?of?perceived?growing executive optimism.?

Rebecca Corbin, Founder and CEO,?Corbin Advisors, commented,??Predictably, we captured a meaningful stepdown in investor sentiment?this survey?as Iran?War-related uncertainty weighs heavily?on confidence.?Importantly, while the decline is sharp on a sequential basis, it?remains?less severe than?the levels we saw?following?both?the 2025 tariff announcement?and the Russian invasion of Ukraine,?indicating?a recalibration rather than a full risk-off response.??

Ms. Corbin continued, ?Against this backdrop, investors continue to characterize the underlying economy as solid and more expect companies will maintain 2026 guides, but around the edges, conviction is being challenged. War-related fallout is largely unknown at this time with our channel checks indicating tangible impacts beginning in late March. This earnings period, executives will have the unenviable responsibility of qualifying and quantifying real and future effects on the trajectory of growth and margin while the situation remains fluid despite the two-week ceasefire. Similar to other Black Swan events, management teams will be expected to frame the environment relative to their business, provide assumptions, and layout scenario analyses. Managing investor expectations by acknowledging uncertainty and reinforcing self-help initiatives are critical to sustaining confidence in the quarter ahead.??

As for Q1?26 expectations, 44% expect earnings to come?In Line?with consensus, while 39%?anticipate?Better Than?results?and?17% expect results to be?Worse Than?consensus,?reflecting a?four-fold?increase?sequentially. Regarding KPIs, Revenue, EPS, and FCF are?anticipated?to?Improve?sequentially, but at lower?support levels?than?captured?last quarter.?Notably, all measures?see an increase in?Worsening?expectations, particularly Margins,?with 36% of investors now expecting a decline?amid heightened inflation.?

Continuing, 2026 annual guides are seen as ?too early? to be changed, despite the uncertain backdrop,?with more?anticipating?companies to?Maintain?outlooks.??

?If you had asked me before this Middle East conflict, I would say?generally it?is?pretty positive. ISM was trending better. Companies are feeling?pretty good?about 2026. Order trends had been good coming out of Q4, but now there is this whole new level of uncertainty. It is?generally pretty?favorable, but that could be changing,??commented?a buy side analyst whose firm?manages?over?$100?billion?in equity assets.?

Turning to economic views,?while investors?have conviction in the underlying strength of the economy,?45% expect 2026 U.S. GDP growth will?Worsen?over the next six months, while 50% now expect the U.S. economy will enter a recession,?up?from 35% last quarter.?After three consecutive quarters of increasing support for growth, this survey finds more, 55%,?taking a defensive approach and prioritizing margins. To that end, respondents?cite the Iran War?and related headwinds ? higher?inflation,?including?energy prices,?and the impact on?the consumer???as top concerns.??

For upcoming earnings calls, AI?still?leads the list of topics of interest, with investors seeking details on use cases, capex levels, and returns, followed by first and second order?effects?from the Iran War, and rounded out by consumer?behavior.?Notably,?82% of respondents consider a company?s AI strategy an important consideration?to their investment selection process.?

Reinvestment?remains?the top preferred use of cash at 50%, down from?61% last quarter, reflecting a?conservative tilt, further underscored by an increase in?those favoring?Dividend Growth and Dry Powder, which?both saw double-digit increases.?Share Buybacks, which have?been supported at levels north of?40% for the last three quarters, fell to?just over 30%,?underscoring that even at these dislocated levels, there?remains?risk.?

Turning to leverage ratios, 70%?remain?in steadfast support of?Net Debt-to-EBITDA ratios?of?2.0x or lower, underscoring the Street?s unwavering focus on balance sheet discipline.?Amid heightened opacity and expectations for higher inflation, investor support for bolt-on acquisitions, while still?notable?at 57%,?saw?a pullback from 71% last quarter.?Large deals continue to remain out of favor.??

With regard to?global views, Brazil vaults?to the top of regional investor outlooks over the next six months, followed by Canada and the former top pick, India. Notably, regions with the largest?quarter-over-quarter?increases in investor sentiment are net oil exporters, while net oil importers saw the largest declines?in outlooks. As for sectors,?not surprisingly,?Energy saw the highest Bullish sentiment?for the sector?in survey history, while Consumer Discretionary saw a?two-fold?increase in the?bears.??

About Corbin Advisors?

Corbin Advisors?is a strategic investor relations and investor communications advisory firm with?a track record?of supporting our publicly traded clients in creating sustained shareholder value. Our approach leverages decades of Voice of Investor? (VOI) research and data-driven insights; capital markets?expertise?and deep best practice knowledge; and a proven playbook and passion for client outperformance. We are a trusted advisor and partner to boards of directors, executive leaders, and investor relations professionals, serving a broad range of companies globally across sectors, sizes, and situations. Through defining the standard of excellence and challenging conventional thinking, we enable our clients to boldly differentiate their equity brand, maximize valuation, and build more durable franchises.??

Corbin Advisors. Outperformance Built on Trust?.??

To learn more?about us and?our impact, visit CorbinAdvisors.com.?

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