US corporate profits hit near-record share of GDP as earnings surge beats expectations

American companies are making money at a historic rate. Fresh data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis puts US corporate profits at $4.426 trillion annualized in Q1 2026, a level that represents 12.4% of GDP. That is the second-highest share of the economy ever recorded in data going back to 1947, and the highest since Q2 2021. What the numbers actually show The quarter-over-quarter gain looks measured on paper: Q1 2026’s $4.426 trillion came in above Q4 2025’s $4.352 trillion, a 1.71% sequential increase. The more telling comparison is year-over-year. In Q1 2025, annualized profits sat at $3.923 trillion. That makes the annual growth rate approximately 12.8%, which, by any normal corporate earnings standard, is a strong result. After-tax profits for Q1 2026 came in at $3.951 trillion on an unadjusted basis, per BEA figures. The drivers behind the growth are worth noting. Strength in domestic nonfinancial industries did much of the heavy lifting, alongside a meaningful contribution from AI-related capital spending rippling through supply chains and technology vendors. Efficiency improvements across sectors also showed up in the margin data. The 50% annual growth figure that circul...