According to Thomson Financial, this could be the first negative quarter for earnings growth since 2002:

The third-quarter earnings growth rate is currently at 0.1%, and that's without factoring in the profit warnings from Chevron Corp. (CVX), Valero Energy (VLO) and others, he said.

However, Butters said that upwards revisions from other companies on Wednesday could keep the growth rate positive. Should year-on-year comparisons turn negative, it would be the first quarter of negative growth since the first quarter of 2002, Butters said.

For the overall earnings season, "companies still tend to beat earnings estimates by 3% on average," the analyst said. "We should still come out with third-quarter earnings growth in the low single digits."

There are some bombs going off this earnings season, but I'm expecting to avoid these problem spots. If anything, as the stock market gets more selective, we usually get even stronger. Traditionally, we've done very well in narrow stock market environments.