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Corporate America Aims to Preserve Profit Streak During Iran War

Higher inflation is leading companies to raise prices without sacrificing margins. From the start of the 2020s, American businesses have been formidable in maintaining and growing their profits....

NYTIMES 입력 2026.04.15 23:54 0

Corporate America Aims to Preserve Profit Streak During Iran War

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April 15, 2026, 10:51 a.m. ET

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Corporate America Aims to Preserve Profit Streak During Iran War

Higher inflation is leading companies to raise prices without sacrificing margins.

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Johnson & Johnson, the drug and medical-device maker, reported strong earnings and boosted its full-year earnings forecast.

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Cristina Arias/Cover, via Getty Images

Talmon Joseph Smith

April 15, 2026,

10:53 a.m. ET

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From the start of the 2020s, American businesses have been formidable in maintaining and growing their profits. Despite a gantlet of challenges — a pandemic, tariffs, high inflation and wars in key commodity hubs — profits have leaped ahead.

Corporate profits have reached a record share of the U.S. economy,

data show

. And a measure of margins that tracks the difference between input costs for businesses and the final selling price of goods and services to customers is also near a record high.

“It’s completely shocking,” said Josh Brown, the chief executive of Ritholtz Wealth Management. “Companies have become really, really good at managing risk. They are practically ninjas at this point.”

As the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran continues, causing energy prices to surge, the question is whether corporate America can pull it off again — dodging another economic shock by raising prices, finding efficiencies and new supply lines, or cutting back on hiring.

Corporate profits as a share of gross domestic product

Note: Data is quarterly, corporate profits from current production before tax with inventory valuation adjustment and capital consumption adjustment. Gross domestic product is the value of all goods and services produced within a country.

Source: EY-Parthenon

Talmon Joseph Smith/The New York Times

Johnson & Johnson, the drug and medical-device maker,

reported

strong earnings on Tuesday and increased its full-year earnings forecast. Executives acknowledged “macro uncertainty,” but said they did not see damage to their business yet. On Wednesday, Bank of America reported a jump in quarterly profit from a year earlier, partly because of strong consumer spending that indicated a resilient economy, said Brian Moynihan, the bank’s chief executive.

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