The profit cycle has now "turned up", with large financial and mining stocks playing a bigger role than normal in driving growth, said Mr Oliver.
Fifty-four per cent of companies "exceeded expectations" compared to a norm of 43 per cent, and 65 per cent of companies saw their profits rise from a year ago (compared to a norm of 66 per cent), he said.
Sixty-four per cent of companies have increased their dividends from a year ago, and 56 per cent of companies saw their share price outperform the day they released their results, said Mr Oliver.
"Key themes have been a massive turnaround for the resources stocks leaving the sector on track for circa 40 per cent earnings growth this financial year, banks doing very well, help coming through from the lower Australian dollar, ongoing cost control making up for still soft revenue growth, signs of improvement from some cyclicals and strong growth in dividends," he said.
A 14 per cent surge in dividends from a year ago has been mainly driven by the big companies such as Rio Tinto, the Commonwealth Bank and Telstra, said Mr Oliver.
"At 64 per cent the dividend payout ratio is still not excessive for the overall market and higher dividends are usually a sign that companies are confident about the outlook," he said.
"The bottom line is that Australian earnings look to be on track for growth of around 15 per cent this financial year, with a 40% surge in resources’ profits, a 10 per cent rise in financials’ profits and a 6 per cent rise in profits for the rest of the market," said Mr Oliver.
