Most profitable Q4 for US corporations

London: US corporations are set to report their most profitable fourth quarter on record as companies from Apple to Dow Chemical feed the demand for iPads, caustic soda and capital goods that’s bolstering the economy.

Earnings per share for all Standard & Poor’s 500 Index companies are expected to have risen about 20% to $22.05 for the three months ended December 31, according to analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Profits, excluding the financial industry, may have climbed 12%, forecasts indicate.

Investors are more confident that the economic rebound will be sustained and companies will be able to raise prices and control costs, said John Carey, who helps manage about $55 billion of US securities for Pioneer Investment Management in Boston. Manufacturing expanded in December at the fastest pace in seven months, and service industries rose the most since May 2006, according to Institute for Supply Management indices. Technology and industrial companies paved the way for what may have been the strongest year for US profits since 2007 a the best fourth quarter since Bloomberg began keeping the data in 1992.