Balboa Capital, a leading direct lender that specializes in small business loans and equipment leasing, announced the results of its Q1/19 small business owner survey, which was conducted to gauge economic confidence, and gain a better understanding of capital investment and hiring plans for the next 12 months.

The responses of the small business owners surveyed during the first week of January 2019, show that overall, 84% think the U.S. economy had strong or moderate growth last year. In addition, 58% are planning to increase their capital investment budgets in 2019 and 55% are planning to hire more employees. Balboa Capital’s survey was sent to a sample of small business owners in a wide variety of industries.

“This private sector optimism is great news for the new year and our nation’s economy overall,” said Carla Freberg, director of Sales, Vendor Services Group at Balboa Capital. “Hearing that small business owners have a favorable view of the current economic climate and are planning to invest in their companies are promising indicators of potential growth for small businesses in 2019.”

Key findings of Balboa Capital’s Q1/19 small business owner survey include:

• 38% of small business owners think the economy had strong growth in 2018, 46% think the economy had moderate growth, and 12% think the economy was flat.
• 59% of small business owners reported increased revenues in 2018, 26% reported no change in revenues, and 15% reported decreased revenues.
• 65% of small business owners think their companies are better off today than they were one year ago.
• 77% of small business owners think the U.S. economy will experience moderate to strong growth in 2019.
• 58% of small business owners expect to increase their capital investment spending in 2019.
• 55% of small business owners plan to hire more employees in 2019.
• 22% of small business owners who need growth capital in Q1 2019 will apply for a business line of credit, 19% will apply for a business loan, and 17% will apply for an equipment lease.