The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta publishes a monthly report titled “Business Inflation Expectations” (BIE) that contains statistics from a survey of regional businesses’ views on various factors that impact profitability. These factors include unit costs, unit cost expectations, sales levels, profit margins, and other factors.
As described on the site:
Approximately 300 panelists receive the survey each month. Panelists represent businesses of various sizes headquartered within the Sixth District, which encompasses Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and sections of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Panelists range from executives of large corporations to owner-operators of small businesses. The industry composition of the panel roughly reflects the makeup of the national economy. Nevertheless, survey responses are weighted by industry shares of national gross domestic product.
An excerpt from the June 2019 BIE Survey dated June 12, 2019 (involving 238 firms responding):
- Inflation expectations: Firms’ year-ahead inflation expectations went unchanged at 2.0 percent, on average.
- Current economic environment: Sales levels compared to “normal times” declined somewhat while profit margins remained the same. Year-over-year unit cost growth increased to 2.1 percent, on average.
- Quarterly question: On average, firms’ long-term inflation expectations (per year, over the next five to 10 years) were 2.7 percent.
The survey’s “Special Question” asked firms about their level of optimism as it relates to their own firm’s financial prospects as well as their optimism concerning the overall U.S. economy.
The report also includes other questions and a variety of charts and tables depicting respondents’ answers.
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RevSD, LLC offers the above commentary for informational purposes only, and does not necessarily agree with all (or any) of the views expressed by these outside parties.
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ProfitabilityIssues.com is published by RevSD, LLC. RevSD, LLC is a management consulting firm and strategic advisory that focuses on the analysis of current and future business conditions, and given these conditions, offers corporations and businesses advice, strategies, and actionable methods on how to optimally increase revenues and profitability.