S&P 500 Beating Estimates for Sales by Most Since 2006

More U.S. companies are exceeding sales forecasts than any time in four years, helping extend the biggest stock-market rally since 1936.

Caterpillar Inc. and United Parcel Service Inc., barometers for the economy because of their building and delivery businesses, are among the 71 percent of Standard & Poor’s 500 Index companies that reported more revenue last quarter than analysts estimated, the largest proportion since at least 2006, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Sales beat projections by an average 2.2 percent, the most in two years, the data show.