As of Oct. 7, 174 companies had lowered third-quarter earnings outlooks among the 436 that had provided guidance for the period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. At least 59 had raised, with the remainder primarily standing pat. More than looking at this past quarters' earnings, investors want companies to give them a peek into the future, Flam said.
'Heightened Uncertainty'
"In a time of heightened uncertainty, people are trying to get some clarity and conviction and that's going to come from what management is saying about the outlook," Flam said. "It's not necessarily what you did in the third quarter. It's what does the future hold."
Texas Instruments, the largest producer of analog chips for medical devices and e-book readers, lowered the top range of its third-quarter earnings forecast to 60 cents a share from 65 cents on Sept. 8. Sami Kiriaki, who runs the Dallas-based company's power-management unit, later cited a slowdown "across many products, many markets and many customers."
Intel Corp., whose processors run more than 80 percent of the world's personal computers, may also have suffered last quarter as consumers pushed off laptop purchases or turned to alternative devices such as Apple Inc.'s iPad.
"We're seeing weak demand across so many market segments," said Chris Caso, a New York-based analyst for Susquehanna International Group. He has a "neutral" rating on Intel's stock and said he doesn't own any of the shares.
Flagging U.S. purchases of air conditioners, golf carts and security systems forced Swords, Ireland-based company Ingersoll Rand to reduce the top range of its earnings forecast for the third quarter by 15 cents to 80 cents and its sales outlook by $200 million to $3.95 billion.
The euro-area economy has also lost momentum with growth in the 17-nation bloc slowing to 0.2 percent in the second quarter from 0.8 percent in the first. Earnings per share for Stoxx Europe 600 companies are projected to have gained 5.8 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the slowest pace since 2009 and down from an 18 percent average in the second quarter.
Royal Philips Electronics NV, the Amsterdam-based maker of lighting equipment and consumer electronics, may say net income fell to 84 million euros ($112 million) from 524 million euros when it reports Oct. 17. Sales likely slipped to 5.4 billion euros from 6.16 billion euros, the survey of analysts showed.
Munich-based Siemens AG, Europe's largest engineering company and a Philips competitor, has said that growth will come down in the second half as industrial customers cut back.