With poor Q1 expected, analysts look for Q4 recovery

Those investors expecting a quick turnaround in corporate earnings may be in for a rude awakening, if a new survey is any gauge.

S&P 500 firms will end their slump, but not until the fourth quarter of this year, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

The survey expects the earnings slump that has lasted six quarters to get worse before it gets better, with profits declining for three more quarters, Bloomberg News reported Monday. The survey estimated that S&P 500 profits will plunge 37 percent in Q1, on a year-over-year basis; then decline 31 percent and 18 percent in Q2 and Q3, respectively, before rising in Q4.