Some companies are seeing a marked return to pre-pandemic activity

It’s not 2020 anymore. And for that, we’re all grateful.

In the early years of the Covid pandemic, there was one and only one thing on everyone’s mind, and that thing was the virus itself. Closed storefronts, supply chain issues: We all know the story, and that was just the economic side of things.

These days, the narrative is changing. While health companies are still focused on the immediate impacts of the pandemic (namely, distributing vaccines), Covid is moving to the background in many other firms’ conversations with investors.

But some companies are still talking about the impact of the pandemic in earnings calls—and the way they’re doing so is telling.

More often than not, they’re using the pandemic as a benchmark: There’s pre-Covid, and then there’s everything else. And for some companies, achieving pre-Covid levels is a successful measure.

The before times. That’s been especially true in the latest batch of bank earnings. Take Citi, which used “pre-Covid" as a reason for both concern and optimism. CFO Mark Mason said “both Branded Cards and Retail Services NCL rates are still below pre-Covid levels,” but “Net credit losses in cards should continue to normalize with both portfolios reaching pre-Covid levels by year-end.” JPMorgan Chase CFO Jeremy Barnum did the same, noting that “consumer spend growth has now reverted to pre-pandemic trends.”

“Cash buffers continue to normalize to pre-pandemic levels with lower-income groups normalizing faster,” he added.

American Express CFO Christophe Le Caillec also used “pre-Covid” as a yardstick, pointing out that “the spend, revenue, and credit profiles of new card holders “look strong relative to what we saw pre-pandemic.”

It’s not just banks. Robert Goldstein, chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands, a resort and casino company, called out its retail business in Macau, where tourism is ramping up again, saying it “has far exceeded pre-Covid numbers.” And Kirsten Lynch, CEO of Vail Resorts, a Colorado-based resort management company, said that thanks to a “return to normal staffing levels,” guest satisfaction scores in its latest quarter “exceeded our pre-Covid levels at our destination mountain resorts.”

While daily life might feel firmly post-Covid for many, earnings reports are here to remind us to pay attention to what was happening pre-Covid.