US corporates shy to offer guidance US companies are more uncertain about the future than at any point since the financial crisis, with just one in five of the country's biggest corporations making any predictions as they published fourth-quarter results. "We're seeing a marked reluctance from companies to be concrete in their forecasts," said Christine Short at data provider Standard & Poor's Capital IQ. When companies have talked about prospects for 2012, they have tended to make generic comments, which could apply to any company in any sector. Some 410 companies in the S&P 500 index have reported results so far and just 86 of them offered an earnings per share forecast for the first quarter of 2012. That is on track to be the lowest number since the third quarter of 2009, when companies were still weighing up the impact of the financial crisis. Last month, for example, Colgate refused to break down guidance by region for the first time in at least 13 years in its quarterly results. The toothpaste and toiletries manufacturer did offer a forecast of currency-neutral sales growth across its global business, but it refused to give a dollar value for earnings expectations, because of currency fluctuations. Less predictable costs for raw materials have exacerbated uncertainty, according to executive as both Procter & Gamble and Colgate. Historically, when foreign exchange rates have moved significantly in a negative direction, we have received a meaningful offset from declining commodity costs. This has not been the case this year," Jon Moeller, P&G's chief financial officer said on the company's fourth quarter earnings call. Even if commodity prices and currencies stabilise, many analysts believe there is a fundamental shift underway towards less predictable earnings. "Future growth is going to come from emerging markets, which are by definition more volatile," said Wendy Nicholson, a Citigroup analyst who follows Colgate and P&G. "I think we're entering an era where companies will find it harder and harder to forecast accurately. Earnings may not fall, but they will be less predictable. Historically about a third of companies offer earnings guidance each quarter, according to S&P Capital IQ. That fell as low as 15 per cent at the height of the financial crisis, but then recovered. Forecasts started to slip at the end of last year, as the eurozone debt crisis led to concerns about demand in Europe, while this quarter corporate leaders have also expressed caution about emerging markets growth. Such uncertainty about global demand has weighed particularly heavily on technology and consumer companies, which are heavily dependent on foreign sales for revenue, and also tend to account for most guidance forecasts. Among those companies that have forecast EPS for the first quarter, twice as many have guided below analyst expectations, as above them. That is the highest negative guidance ratio since the first quarter of 2009, according to S&P Capital IQ. Additional reporting by Barney Jopson in New York