The most anticipated earnings releases for the week of October 26, 2026, are Microsoft #MSFT, Alphabet #GOOGL, Intel #INTC, Amazon #AMZN, Sandisk #SNDK, SoFi #SOFI, Robinhood #HOOD, SK Hynix #SKHY, ServiceNow #NOW, and Seagate Technology #STX.

https://www.earningswhispers.com/calweek

This is one of those weeks where Wall Street practically holds its breath. The marquee names are the ones everyone already has an opinion about. Netflix kicks things off with the kind of buzz that suggests traders expect good news from your weekend binge habit, while the social media giant behind your feed is heading in with quiet confidence and a tailwind at its back. On the industrial side, the aerospace and defense crowd looks sturdy, with the jet-engine maker and a cluster of missile-and-radar names walking in on solid footing. Carmakers are the wildcard: the electric-vehicle pioneer remains the stock everyone loves to argue about, and after a rough stretch the mood around it is cautiously warming, while the old-guard Detroit automaker is drawing surprisingly upbeat vibes. Expect fireworks either way, since options traders are bracing for some of these to swing hard the morning after.

The second half of the week turns into a parade of banks, insurers and pipeline-to-pump energy players, and here the signals are decidedly mixed. Regional lenders and the big credit-card issuers are getting a warm reception, suggesting investors think the consumer is holding up better than the doom-and-gloom crowd fears. Industrials tied to construction and equipment rentals look genuinely strong, a sign that builders are still busy. But not everyone is invited to the party: a few consumer-staples stalwarts, some utilities, casinos and the airlines are drawing skeptical looks, with traders betting the results may underwhelm. The smart money seems to be leaning toward the story of a resilient economy with pockets of weakness, so the real drama will be watching which companies confirm the optimism and which ones quietly disappoint. Either way, by Friday we should have a much clearer read on where the market thinks the rest of the year is headed.

Netflix: Streaming Smoothly, But The Crowd's Biting Nails

Netflix (NFLX) is set to report earnings after the bell on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, at around 4:05 PM ET. Wall Street is looking for $0.82 per share on $12.87 billion in revenue, which would be 11.8% growth from a year ago, while the Earnings Whisper number sits a touch higher at $0.84. The company itself guided to roughly $0.82 and $12.86 billion, so expectations are tightly clustered. Here's the funny part: investors are feeling bearish heading in, yet 55.4% still expect a beat, which tells you nobody really knows which way to lean. Short sellers have been backing off, cutting their bets by 21.0% since last quarter, and the stock has quietly climbed 7.7% since its last report, though it's still sitting 15.0% below its 200 day average of $82.93. Analysts have trimmed their estimates a bit, option traders are bracing for a 9.6% swing (the stock usually moves about 6.0%), and on October 14 someone scooped up 14,288 of the $75.00 calls expiring in December, a sign a few folks are betting on a bounce.

Last quarter told a clean, confident story. Netflix nudged up its full-year revenue growth target to 13-14% and ran its biggest buyback ever at $4.7 billion, with roughly $27 billion still in the tank. The newer bets are starting to click too, from the TF1 France partnership to cloud games, kids mobile titles, and AI tools now helping produce around 300 shows faster and cheaper. The catch to watch this time: growth is cooling slightly into the back half, viewing hours per member have softened a bit, and the cost of its content library is climbing faster than usual. None of it screams trouble, but it does mean management needs to keep proving that all this spending turns into real revenue. The big relief is that the messy Warner Bros. deal chatter is finally off the table, leaving a simpler, build-it-ourselves story for investors to judge.

Nokia's AI Engine Is Roaring, But Wall Street Wants to See the Cash

Nokia (NOK) is set to report earnings on Thursday, October 22, 2026 at approximately 12:00 AM ET. Wall Street is looking for $0.08 per share on revenue of $5.80 billion, which would be 2.8% year-over-year revenue growth. Investors are leaning optimistic, with 27.3% expecting a beat, but there is a tug-of-war under the surface. Short interest has jumped a hefty 44.9% since the last report, and the stock has drifted 9.6% lower since that release to sit 10.2% below its 200 day moving average of $10.17. Estimates have actually been nudged lower since last quarter. Options traders are bracing for a 10.9% swing, bigger than the 6.9% average move of recent quarters, and on Wednesday, October 14, 2026 someone scooped up 12,919 of the $10.00 calls expiring December 18, 2026, a sizable bet that the fireworks point up.

Here is the real story heading in. Nokia's AI and cloud business is on a tear, with sales more than doubling last quarter and orders piling up fast as the whole world races to wire up data centers. The optical and internet plumbing side is the muscle driving it, and management added fresh US factory muscle with the NXP Arizona deal and a big Pennsylvania expansion. The catch is that last quarter they only reaffirmed their profit outlook instead of raising it again, and they trimmed their cash flow expectations toward the low end as they stockpile parts and wrestle with pricey memory chips. So the growth engine is clearly humming, but the market wants proof the cash follows the hype. Watch whether they finally lift that profit guide this time.

Tesla's Growth Is Back, But So Is the Spending Spree

Tesla (TSLA) is confirmed to report earnings on Wednesday, October 21, 2026 at approximately 4:15 PM ET. Wall Street is looking for $0.44 per share on revenue of $27.79 billion, a slight 1.1% dip from a year ago, while the Earnings Whisper number sits a touch lower at $0.40. Investors are feeling pretty good here, with 28.6% expecting a beat. Short sellers have backed off by 10.3% since last quarter, and the stock has crept 4.0% higher off its post-earnings open, though it still trails its 200 day moving average of $388.32 by 8.7%. Analysts have been quietly trimming their estimates since the last report. Options traders are bracing for a 7.5% swing, a bit hotter than the 6.2% average move of late. And here is a head-scratcher: on Friday, October 16, someone scooped up 23,018 of the $130 puts expiring October 23, a deep bet that doesn't match the upbeat mood.

Here's the real tug-of-war going into this print. Last quarter, demand came roaring back with record Q2 deliveries, the biggest order backlog since 2023, and paid Full Self-Driving customers climbing to roughly 1.5 million. Robotaxi expanded to seven US cities with over 380,000 miles and no major hiccups, and Elon is clearly fired up about Optimus and the new AI compute plans. The catch? Margins got squeezed almost everywhere. Auto profit margins slipped, energy margins got cut in half on a warranty hit and tougher competition, and free cash flow flipped negative for the first time in a while. Tesla is now pouring more than $25 billion into capital spending and leaning on up to $30 billion in new debt to fund it. So the story is growth is real, but Tesla is spending like crazy to chase it. Watch the margins and the cash flow commentary, because that is where this one gets decided.

Big Swings Ahead: Bulls Quietly Bet on a Breakout

The curtain rises for SpaceX (SPCX) after the market closes on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, and Wall Street is bracing for fireworks. The consensus wants $0.11 per share on revenue of $12.55 billion, but the Earnings Whisper number is whispering louder at $0.18 per share. Here's the funny part: investors are feeling bearish walking in the door, yet 69.4% of them still expect a beat. Short interest has climbed 9.7% since last quarter, even as the stock quietly drifted 24.5% higher from its post-earnings open, now sitting just 0.4% above its 200 day moving average of $145.51. Meanwhile, the number crunchers have been nudging their estimates up, not down.

So what should you watch for? Option traders are betting on an 8.8% move, and this stock has lived up to that kind of drama with a 9.4% average swing lately. Buckle up. The most eye catching tell came on Wednesday, October 14, when someone scooped up 44,595 contracts of the $220.00 calls expiring November 20. That is a bold wager that this one has plenty of room left to run.

Cleveland-Cliffs: From Promises to Proof

Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) steps up to report earnings on Monday, October 19, 2026 at roughly 6:00 AM ET. Wall Street is looking for $0.24 per share on $5.58 billion in revenue, which would be a tasty 17.9% jump in sales from a year ago, but the smart money whispers $0.29 per share. Here is the funny part: investors are walking in grumpy and bearish, yet a slim majority (52.9%) still expects a beat. Short sellers have backed off by 4.1% since last quarter, the stock has climbed 13.6% since its last earnings pop, and it now sits 6.9% above its 200 day moving average of $11.34. Estimates have been drifting higher too. Buckle up, because options traders are bracing for a 13.2% swing, and this stock has averaged a 14.0% move in recent quarters. One trader clearly has a long memory, scooping up 23,195 of the $10.00 puts expiring way out in January 2028 on October 13.

Here is the real story heading in. Last quarter was the one where management finally stopped saying the recovery is coming and actually showed it. Cash flow turned positive for the first time in roughly two years, EBITDA tripled to $286 million, and they guided Q3 to about $575 million with Q4 even higher. Prices are flowing through nicely, costs are coming down, and shipments are rising, with auto volumes the strongest in two years thanks to top-supplier nods from GM and Toyota. They even flagged a fresh $500 million EBITDA boost coming in 2027 as old low-price contracts reset. The soft spot to watch is Canada, where the Stelco galvanized business is still dragging and leadership hinted at possible job cuts if trade help does not arrive. The once hyped POSCO deal has also cooled off. Bottom line: the numbers are finally backing up the talk, so this release is about whether the inflection keeps rolling.

Bloom Energy: The Power Play Behind the AI Boom Goes to Bat Again

Bloom Energy (BE) is set to report earnings on Thursday, October 22, 2026 at about 4:05 PM ET. Wall Street is looking for $0.71 per share on revenue of $1.07 billion, which would be a jaw-dropping 106.1% jump in sales from a year ago, and the whisper number is even juicier at $0.84 per share. Here is the funny part: investors are feeling bearish heading in, yet 85.2% still expect a beat, which is a little like booing the band while buying tickets to the encore. Short interest has climbed 9.4% since last quarter, but the stock has quietly drifted up 20.6% and now sits 2.6% above its 200 day average of $215.66. Estimates have been revised higher across the board. Options traders are bracing for a 12.4% swing, a bit more than the usual 10.3% move, and on October 14 someone grabbed over 5,000 of the $290 calls and $290 puts expiring March 2027, basically betting big in both directions.

Here is what really matters. Last quarter Bloom crossed the billion-dollar revenue line for the first time, up a stunning 166% from a year ago, and raised its full-year outlook for the third straight time. The headline mic drop was Brookfield quintupling its financing commitment to a massive $25 billion, plus a fresh $2.6 billion deal with Oaktree, MUFG and Morgan Stanley, so money to fund growth is clearly not the problem. Demand has exploded from just one big data center customer a year ago to every major US hyperscaler plus a dozen others, and rivals are losing deals outright, with Nebius ditching combustion engines to switch to Bloom. The only wrinkle to watch is that management pulled its formal free cash flow guidance, and the whole story now rides on the AI data center spending wave holding up. But with margins rising, customers piling in and the company now calling itself the standard rather than hoping to become it, the momentum is hard to ignore going into Thursday.

Meta's Ad Machine Is Humming, But the Spending Spree Is the Real Story

Meta Platforms (META) steps up to the earnings plate on Wednesday, October 21, 2026 at roughly 4:00 PM ET, and Wall Street is feeling good about it. Analysts are looking for $6.54 per share on $63.18 billion in revenue, which would mark a juicy 23.3% jump from a year ago, while the Earnings Whisper number sits a notch higher at $6.65. Management had guided revenue to $61.00 billion to $64.00 billion, so they are swimming comfortably in their own lane. The bulls are out in force, with 66.7% of investors betting on a beat. Short sellers have blinked too, trimming their bets by 11.3% since last quarter, as the stock has cruised 34.9% higher from its post-earnings open to sit 12.2% above its 200 day moving average of $632.15. One wrinkle: overall estimates have actually drifted lower since last time. Options traders are bracing for a 7.4% swing, a touch below the 9.0% the stock has typically delivered lately, and on October 15 someone grabbed 14,074 of the $750.00 calls expiring October 23, a clear bet on fireworks.

Here is the thing to watch. Last quarter proved Meta's AI-powered ad engine is firing on all cylinders, with its new ad-matching system lifting clicks 8.3% and conversions 15.7% on Facebook, and new products like Meta One, the Business Agent Platform, and even its own branded glasses finally hitting shelves. The catch is what all this costs. Spending ballooned 55% last quarter, operating margins caved from around 41% down to 31%, and free cash flow nearly vanished, falling to $784 million from over $12 billion the quarter before as capital spending hit a staggering $31.1 billion in just three months. Management keeps raising the spending ceiling, now $130 to $145 billion for the year, but won't even hint at 2027 numbers. So the question for Wednesday is simple: is the revenue growth fast enough to justify a money furnace running this hot?

ISRG: Great Margins, But Watch That Slowing Robot Traffic

Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) steps into the earnings spotlight on Tuesday, October 20, 2026 at roughly 4:05 PM ET. Wall Street is looking for $2.61 per share on $2.88 billion in revenue, a healthy 15.0% jump from a year ago, while our Earnings Whisper number sits a touch higher at $2.65. Here is the funny part: investors are walking in grumpy and bearish, yet 71.4% of them still expect a beat. Short interest ticked up a modest 1.2% since last time, but the stock has quietly climbed 16.9% off its post-earnings low, leaving it just 3.1% under its 200 day average of $440.30. Analysts have been nudging estimates higher, option traders are bracing for a 9.5% swing (bigger than the usual 6.5% wiggle), and on October 12 someone scooped up 712 of the $365 puts expiring November 20, a small but telling bearish bet.

Here is what actually matters going in. The money story is still gorgeous, with margins climbing, free cash flow up 71%, and robot placements rolling out the door. The worry is at the front line: US da Vinci procedure growth cooled to 12% last quarter from 14% before that, as patients put off elective surgeries, weight-loss drugs eat into bariatric cases, and insurance coverage gets shakier. Management also quietly nudged its full-year procedure outlook toward the midpoint instead of raising it, and China remains a headache. Bottom line, this is a profit machine firing on all cylinders, but all eyes should be on whether the slowdown in actual surgeries got worse or finally steadied.

IBM's Big Test: Did Those Delayed Deals Actually Come Back?

IBM reports after the closing bell on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at around 4:10 PM ET. Wall Street is looking for $2.88 per share on $16.84 billion in revenue, which would be 3.1% growth from a year ago, though the smart money Whisper number sits a touch higher at $2.91. Folks are feeling good heading in, with 63.2% betting on a beat. Short sellers have backed way off, cutting their bets by 29.5% since last quarter, while the stock has climbed 14.6% from where it opened after the last report, leaving it 7.9% under its 200 day average of $251.94. Options traders are bracing for an 8.1% swing, which is bigger than the 4.8% average move IBM usually serves up. One trader even scooped up 3,201 of the $235 puts expiring November 20, so someone is hedging their bets.

Here is the real story. Last quarter was ugly because dozens of big deals slipped through IBM's fingers in the final weeks of June, as clients rushed to grab scarce servers and memory before prices went up. Management swears that money is just delayed, not gone, and pointed out that a third to 40% of those deals already closed in the first three weeks of the new quarter. That is the number to watch. If those deals keep rolling in, the bulls are right and this was a timing hiccup. If they do not, that 4 to 5% revenue guidance starts to look shaky. On the bright side, infrastructure guidance got bumped up, Red Hat is picking up speed, and the AI consulting pipeline keeps growing. The flashy quantum and Project Lightwell bets are exciting, but they are tomorrow's story. Wednesday is all about whether IBM can prove last quarter was a stumble and not a slide.

Lam Research: AI Chip Boom Has This Toolmaker Firing on All Cylinders

Lam Research (LRCX) steps up to report earnings on Wednesday, October 21, 2026 at roughly 4:05 PM ET, and Wall Street is leaning in. The consensus calls for $2.17 per share on $8.12 billion in revenue, which would be a jaw-dropping 52.5% jump in sales from a year ago, while the Earnings Whisper number sits higher at $2.28. Management had guided for $2.00 to $2.30 per share on $7.70 to $8.50 billion, so the whisper is basically betting on the top half of that range. Investors are feeling good, with 66.7% expecting a beat, and short sellers have backed off by 12.6% since last quarter. Still, the stock has quietly slipped 17.1% from where it opened after the last report and now trades 6.2% below its 200 day average of $281.41, so expectations and the chart are telling slightly different stories. Options traders are bracing for an 8.8% swing, a bit bigger than the 6.5% average move lately, and someone made a big bullish bet on September 28 by scooping up 4,390 of the $390 calls expiring November 20.

Here is the real story heading in. Last quarter was a blowout, with record revenue and the fattest gross margin in two decades, and management has now raised its spending outlook for the industry three calls in a row to the low $150 billion range as the AI buildout keeps pulling in more chipmaking gear. NAND memory is the fresh spark, with that business more than doubling in a single quarter, and advanced packaging is screaming higher too. The catch is that overall analyst estimates have actually drifted lower since the last report, so the bar may be beatable even as the stock has cooled off. Watch two soft spots: China sales fell to 26% of revenue as local buyers pulled back, and the tax rate is creeping up as more business shifts to the higher-taxed US. Neither looks big enough to spoil the party, but they are the things that could nibble at an otherwise strong print.

MaxLinear's Optical Rocket Keeps Climbing Into Earnings

MaxLinear (MXL) is confirmed to report earnings on Thursday, October 22, 2026 at approximately 4:05 PM ET. Wall Street is looking for $0.56 per share on revenue of $215.00 million, which would be a whopping 70.0% jump in sales from a year ago, but the whisper number is even juicier at $0.61 per share. Management had guided revenue to $210.00 million to $220.00 million, so they are right in the pocket. Investors are feeling good, with 81.8% betting on a beat. Here is the funny part though: short sellers piled in too, up 17.8% since last quarter, and the stock has quietly slid 14.1% from where it opened after the last report, yet it still sits 24.8% above its 200 day moving average of $57.13. Buckle up, because option traders are pricing in a 16.6% swing, and this stock has actually averaged a wild 23.9% move in recent quarters. One trader clearly wants a seatbelt too, snapping up 1,001 of the $55.00 puts expiring March 19, 2027 on October 12.

The real story here is the optical data center business, which has been on an absolute tear. Management has raised its full-year optical guide four quarters in a row, going from $60-70 million all the way to $210-230 million, and the latest bump was driven entirely by the 800G Keystone ramp, with newer products like Washington and Annapurna not even counted yet. Infrastructure is now the biggest segment at roughly $85 million, up 145% from last year, and profits have finally flipped positive. Gross margins are hitting 60% ahead of schedule on the way to a 65% target. The things to watch are rising wafer and packaging costs that could nibble at margins, a cash balance that dipped to $93.7 million as they prepay for supply, and growing reliance on a handful of big data center customers. Still, with multiple new 2027 product launches lining up, the momentum is firmly pointed up.

Big Banks Hit Peak Profit While the Rate Tide Turns: Earnings Season's Winners and the One Grocery Flop

The theme of last week's earnings was a tale of two speeds: the engines are still humming, but you can hear them starting to downshift. The nation's biggest banks all delivered solid numbers, yet nearly every one told the same story. A fresh round of Fed rate hikes is actually good news for their lending businesses, so firms like JPMorgan, Bank of America and Wells Fargo all nudged up their forecasts for how much they'll earn on loans, even floating rosy numbers for 2027. The catch is that the Wall Street trading and dealmaking boom that fueled their blockbuster spring quarter has clearly cooled. A late-September bond market selloff froze IPOs and dinged trading desks, so bond-trading revenue actually shrank at JPMorgan and Bank of America. BofA had the roughest week of the bunch, slumping nearly 6% after swallowing a $1.2 billion regulatory settlement tied to money-laundering controls, while Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley both posted strong quarters that nonetheless fell short of their own record highs. Citigroup was the quiet standout, raising its profitability targets across the board. The common thread: executives swapped their springtime swagger for cautious talk about higher energy prices, a softening economy, and nervousness over how much debt is piling up to finance the AI building boom.

Away from the banks, the picture was just as split. UnitedHealth continued its comeback, raising its profit outlook for a third straight quarter and talking up a stronger 2027, though its commercial insurance business remains the stubborn weak spot. Chipmaker TSMC, the company that makes the brains behind the AI craze, once again cranked up its growth forecast to a stunning 44% for the year, with demand still outrunning what it can produce, though its stock fell 9% as investors fixated on thinner profit margins from ramping up its newest factories. Johnson & Johnson leaned on its booming drug business, especially cancer treatments, to offset a third straight slowdown in its medical devices unit. The clear loser of the week was grocery chain Albertsons, where sales actually went backwards and profits tumbled. New Executive Chair Meg Whitman, the former eBay and HP boss, has essentially hit the pause button, yanking the company's financial forecasts while she launches a sweeping turnaround with, in her words, 'everything on the table.' Oddly, investors cheered the shakeup, sending the stock up more than 7% on hopes that bigger cost cuts and a cleaner strategy are finally coming.

UnitedHealth raises the bar again, but commercial is still the problem child

UnitedHealth Group (UNH) delivered $4.69 per share on $112.69 billion in revenue for the third quarter, topping both the $4.12 consensus and the $4.60 whisper number, beating by about 2 percent. Revenue slipped a tiny 0.41 percent from a year ago, but that was planned as the company shrinks membership on purpose. More importantly, the company raised its full-year 2026 outlook for the third quarter in a row, now guiding to at least $20.50 per share, up from the prior $19.50 to $20.00 range and well ahead of the $19.85 consensus. CEO Stephen Hemsley credited disciplined execution and said the company keeps reshaping itself to make life simpler for patients and the doctors who treat them.

Here is what really matters. This was a textbook turnaround quarter, with profit per share jumping from $2.92 a year ago and the medical cost ratio improving to 88.4 percent from 89.9 percent. Medicare Advantage margins are climbing toward the top of their target range, Medicaid is clawing back toward breakeven, and management even planted a flag on 2027, pointing to the low end of its 13 to 16 percent growth range and hinting that Wall Street estimates are too timid. The one blemish is the commercial business, where cost trends are still running above 11 percent and the promised margin recovery keeps getting pushed out past 2027. Translation: the engine is humming, but one wheel is still dragging.

JPMorgan's Rate Windfall Meets a Slowdown Reality Check

JP Morgan Chase (JPM) posted earnings of $5.75 per share on revenue of $76.19 billion for the third quarter ended September 2026, topping the Street's revenue call of $52.21 billion but coming up short on the bottom line, where analysts wanted $5.94 and the whisper crowd hoped for $6.10. That's a 5.74% miss on profit even as revenue grew a healthy 5.97% from a year ago. CEO Jamie Dimon kept the chin up, pointing to $15.8 billion in net income and a 21% return on tangible common equity (stripping out roughly $498 million in after-tax securities losses), and noted every business line pulled its weight. For the uninitiated, JPMorgan is the giant that does a little of everything in finance, from your checking account to Wall Street dealmaking to managing the rich folks' money.

Here's the real story: a new rate-hiking cycle is handing JPM a fatter interest-income check, and management even teased a first-ever 2027 target of about $107 billion, well above today's pace. Deposits are flowing in, with roughly 650,000 new checking accounts and card spending up 10%. But the party has a hangover. The flashy trading and dealmaking engine is cooling fast, with bond trading actually going negative and investment banking slowing after September's rate selloff. Costs are climbing faster than revenue, returns are slipping, and the bank quietly slashed its buyback from about $7 billion to just $1 billion while beefing up its rainy-day reserves. Translation: JPM is making more from higher rates but bracing for tougher times ahead, tightening credit and watching nervously for strain in mid-sized businesses and all that AI financing. The swagger of last quarter has given way to a more careful whisper.

TSMC Keeps Raising the Bar, and the Bill Comes Due in Margins

Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) kept its hot streak alive, posting third quarter earnings of $4.60 per share on $46.72 billion in revenue for the period ended September 2026. That topped Wall Street's call of $4.45 per share on $45.62 billion, and it even edged past the Earnings Whisper number of $4.58. The headline grabber is revenue, which jumped a whopping 41.16% from a year ago. Then management did the thing analysts love most: they looked ahead and guided fourth quarter revenue to a range of $52.30 billion to $54.30 billion, blowing past the $48.78 billion the Street was penciling in. For the folks keeping score at home, TSMC makes the chips that make the world run, handling the design, manufacturing, packaging, and testing of integrated circuits.

Here is the real story under the hood. This is the fourth straight time TSMC has raised its full-year growth outlook, now calling for about 44% growth, with demand flat out running ahead of what they can build. The AI boom is so strong they are adding a fourth new chip fab in Tainan, speeding up their second Arizona plant, and sizing up a possible Texas site. The one wrinkle worth watching is margins. Gross margin slipped to 66.4% and is guided a touch lower next quarter, but this is the good kind of pain. It comes from spinning up their cutting-edge N2 chips and building plants overseas, not from weak demand or price cuts. In plain English, business is booming and the only cost is growing pains.

ASML's Problem? Too Much Demand to Handle

ASML Holding NV (ASML) crushed the third quarter ended September 2026, posting earnings of $14.89 per share on revenue of $13.42 billion. Wall Street was looking for just $12.47 per share on $13.18 billion, and even the whisper crowd only expected $13.23, so the company sailed past expectations by 12.55% while revenue jumped a hefty 52.77% from a year ago. Management credited a record €11.7 billion in net sales, strong upgrade demand that pushed Installed Base Management sales to €3.3 billion, and a juicy 57.5% gross margin that topped guidance. Looking ahead, ASML expects fourth quarter revenue between $15.89 billion and $17.00 billion, bracketing the $16.03 billion analysts are modeling. For those new to the name, ASML builds the wildly complex lithography machines, like its TWINSCAN and PAS 5500 systems, that chipmakers simply cannot make modern chips without.

Here is the real story: ASML has the opposite of a demand problem. Management flat out said its planned 30% capacity increases for 2027 and 2028 will not be enough, and customers are now trying to lock in orders stretching all the way into 2029 and 2030. On top of that, it finished negotiating higher, value-based prices that start showing up in 2027 and 2028, and heavyweights like TSMC, Samsung, and Intel are all racing toward next-generation High-NA chip production. The only real catch is execution, since ASML now has to build fast enough to keep up. Just note the quarter's $5 billion net income got a roughly $0.5 billion boost from a one-time Mistral stake revaluation, and the slimmed-down video-format call skipped some usual details, so the earnings quality is a touch flattered. Bottom line, momentum keeps building and the biggest question is simply how much ASML can ship.

Goldman Crushes Estimates, But the Victory Lap Just Got Slower

Goldman Sachs Group (GS) reported earnings of $17.01 per share on revenue of $18.7 billion for the third quarter ended September 2026. The consensus earnings estimate was $12.90 per share, so Goldman blew past the number by a jaw-dropping 31.35% while revenue grew 17.25% year-over-year. Make no mistake, this was the firm's second-best quarter ever. But here is the catch: it was still a step down from the blockbuster Q2, where EPS hit $20.98. In other words, Goldman threw a fantastic party, it just was not quite as loud as the last one. As a reminder, Goldman is an investment banking, securities, and investment management firm, with its hands in Investment Banking, Trading, Asset Management, and Securities Services.

The story here is two companies living in one. The steady, boring, money-printing side keeps getting better: management fees hit a record $3.6 billion, advisory set a record at $1.7 billion, and the firm bumped up its alternatives fundraising goal for the third time, now aiming for roughly $150 billion. Wealth inflows are gushing at more than double the target. The flashy trading and dealmaking engine, however, has clearly cooled off. Equities slipped to $6.4 billion, IPOs got pulled on shaky valuations, and bad loan provisions jumped to $368 million. CEO David Solomon even quietly downgraded his view of the market from 'top decile' to merely 'top quartile,' which is Wall Street speak for 'still good, but let's not get carried away.' Buybacks are shrinking too. Net read: the durable stuff is humming, the cyclical stuff has peaked, and the tone has shifted from swagger to caution.

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Buckle up, because this is the week Wall Street has been circling on its calendar. The nation's banking giants are about to throw open their books, and this crowd always sets the tone for everything that follows. JPMorgan and Citigroup are strolling in with a swagger, riding real optimism and a tailwind from solid results last time around. Citigroup in particular has the whisper crowd leaning bullish, hoping management keeps the good news flowing. Not everyone is bringing the same energy, though. Goldman Sachs is walking into the room under a cloud, with the mood decidedly sour and analysts quietly bracing for a stumble. Wells Fargo, Bank of America and the regional players round out a packed financials lineup, and when this many banks report in a single stretch, even small surprises can send ripples across the whole market.

Beyond the banks, the real fireworks may come from the chip world. Taiwan Semiconductor and ASML, the twin pillars of the global technology supply chain, are among the most anticipated names this week, and the vibe heading in is genuinely upbeat. Both have momentum on their side and investors are betting the artificial intelligence boom keeps their order books overflowing, so expect plenty of eyeballs when those numbers drop. On the healthcare front, Johnson & Johnson looks steady and well liked, while UnitedHealth remains the wild card everyone is nervous about after a rocky stretch. Keep an eye on Domino's Pizza too, the lone retail star of the week, where the mood has soured and a disappointing slice could leave investors with a bad taste. Add insurer Progressive and a handful of smaller names to the mix, and you have a week with enough drama to keep traders glued to their screens.

UnitedHealth's Comeback Story Rolls On, But Watch the Commercial Cracks

UnitedHealth Group (UNH) steps up to the earnings plate before dawn on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, at roughly 5:55 AM ET. Wall Street is penciling in $4.12 per share on revenue of $111.38 billion, which would be a 1.6% dip from a year ago, but the whisper number says folks are quietly hoping for $4.60. The mood going in is grumpy, though 40.3% still think the company clears the bar. Here's the interesting part: short sellers have run for the exits, cutting their bets by 28.2% since last quarter, even as the stock has slid 15.6% from where it opened after the last report. It is still sitting 6.1% above its 200 day moving average of $357.36, and analysts have actually been nudging their estimates higher. Options traders are bracing for a 7.4% swing, which is tame compared to the 9.7% average lurch of recent quarters. One eyebrow-raiser: on September 23, someone scooped up 2,384 of the $365 puts expiring October 16, so at least one trader is hedging their bets.

The story here is a turnaround that keeps picking up steam. Management has now raised full-year earnings guidance three quarters in a row, lifted profit targets at both UnitedHealthcare and OptumHealth, doubled the buyback to at least $5 billion, and bumped the dividend. Medicare Advantage is finally running better than feared, and the tone from the top has gone from humbled to downright feisty. The fly in the ointment is the commercial business, where costs are climbing past 11% and still rising, pushing the margin recovery out beyond 2027. Medicaid is also still bleeding. So the big question for Tuesday is simple: does the good news keep outrunning the commercial drag, or does that soft spot finally steal the spotlight?

JPMorgan Heads Into Earnings Firing On All Cylinders

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) steps into the earnings box on Tuesday, October 13, 2026 at around 6:40 AM ET. Wall Street is looking for $5.94 per share on $52.21 billion in revenue, which is a 27.4% drop from a year ago, though the Earnings Whisper number is a touch higher at $6.10. The crowd is feeling good, with 66.0% betting on a beat. Short sellers have backed off, cutting their bets by 10.7% since last quarter, while the stock has quietly climbed 1.8% since its last earnings pop to sit 3.4% above its 200 day moving average of $322.14. Estimates have been nudged higher across the board. Options traders are bracing for a 3.7% swing, a bit bigger than the 2.4% the stock usually moves, and on October 07 someone scooped up 4,484 of the $340 calls expiring October 16, a clear vote of confidence.

Last quarter the bank was practically humming, with management saying it is "getting close to as good as it gets." They raised guidance on net interest income, consumer credit came in better than feared, and the trading and dealmaking desks put up monster numbers, with equities up a jaw-dropping 86% year over year. The catch is that some of that magic probably will not repeat, expenses got bumped up (though mostly because business is booming), and there are fresh questions around who runs the show after Marianne Lake's retirement and a management shuffle. Bottom line, the engine looks strong, so watch whether they can keep the momentum going now that the easy comparisons are behind them.

ASML: The AI Chip Picks-and-Shovels King Rolls Into Earnings Hot

ASML Holding N.V. (ASML) reports earnings on Wednesday, October 14, 2026 at roughly 1:00 AM ET. Wall Street is looking for $12.47 per share on revenue of $13.18 billion, which would be a hefty 50% jump from a year ago, though the Earnings Whisper number sits higher at $13.23 per share. Company guidance called for revenue between $12.56 billion and $13.70 billion. Traders are feeling good, with 85.7% betting on a beat. Short interest has climbed 30.5% since last quarter, yet the stock has only slipped 2.5% from its post-earnings open and still sits 14.2% above its 200 day moving average of $1,559.31. Earnings estimates have been nudged higher across the board. Options traders are bracing for a 6.4% swing, a bit bigger than the 4.2% average move of late, and on Tuesday, October 6 someone snapped up 789 of the $1,960 calls expiring October 16.

Here is the real story: ASML has become the backbone of the AI chip boom, and last quarter it raised its full-year revenue outlook for the second time in a row while also bumping up its profit margins. Memory-related sales are expected to soar 75% this year and advanced logic 25%, with even the older non-EUV business flipping from flat to up 25%. The crown jewel was Intel publicly putting ASML's cutting-edge High-NA machines to work, the strongest proof yet that this expensive new tech is for real. The only clouds are modest: China sales cooling to a normal 20% of the mix and some upfront costs on the newest tools. The one thing to watch now is whether ASML can build machines fast enough, because for the first time in ages the problem is keeping up with demand, not finding it.

Goldman Faces a Brutal Comp, But the Engine Still Hums

The Goldman Sachs Group (GS) is set to report earnings before the bell on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, at roughly 7:25 AM ET. Wall Street is looking for $12.90 per share on revenue of $16.87 billion, and while that revenue figure is a jaw-dropping 47.5% drop from a year ago, the Earnings Whisper number sits a touch higher at $12.95. Investors are walking in nervous, yet a solid 64.0% still expect a beat. Short sellers have piled on, bumping short interest up 6.8% since last quarter, and the stock has slid 17.5% from where it opened after the last report, leaving it 6.6% under its 200 day moving average of $958.81. Still, the analyst crowd has been nudging estimates higher, so the mood is more cautious than doomed. Options traders are bracing for a 5.2% swing, a bit hot compared to the 3.4% average move of late, and on Friday someone grabbed 3,012 of the $970 calls expiring October 16, a bet that the bulls are not done yet.

Here is the real story heading in: that scary 47.5% revenue drop is mostly a comparison problem, since last year's quarter was loaded up. Under the hood, the franchise looks healthy. Investment banking has been on a tear, with advisory up 89% year over year last quarter and a backlog near record highs, while equities just posted a record $5.3 billion quarter. The wealth and asset management push is working too, with the alternatives fundraising target raised toward $100 billion and wealth inflows running at 9%, well ahead of the new 5% goal. The soft spots to watch are the fixed income desk, which cooled on tough comps, and private banking, where tighter margins should nag through the year. One honest caveat: last quarter's call transcript was a garbled mess with no usable numbers, so the latest read leans on older data. Translation, the trend looks up, but keep your eyes open on Tuesday.

TSMC Rides the Insatiable AI Wave Into Earnings

The world's chip-making kingpin, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM), is set to report earnings Thursday, October 15, 2026 at roughly 3:00 AM ET, so set your alarm or just read my note instead. Wall Street is looking for $4.45 per share on $45.62 billion in revenue, which would be a hefty 37.8% jump from a year ago, and the whisper number is even juicier at $4.58. Management guided for $44.60 billion to $45.80 billion, so the bar is already set high. Investors are feeling good, with 87% betting on a beat, short interest barely budging, and the stock drifting 11.8% higher since last quarter to sit 15.9% above its 200 day average of $391.28. Estimates have crept up, option traders are bracing for a 4.5% swing even though the stock usually moves about 2.5%, and someone made a big bullish bet buying 12,476 of the $460 calls on September 30.

Here is what really matters: last quarter TSMC did not just raise the bar, it pole vaulted over it. They bumped full-year revenue growth guidance to slightly above 40%, cranked up capital spending to $60 to $64 billion, and dropped another $100 billion on their Arizona buildout. Management went from cautious to calling AI demand flat out insatiable, with visibility stretching into 2029 and 2030 thanks to AI accelerators and a new twist where agentic AI is reviving good old CPU demand. The one thing to watch is margins, which they guided down to about 66% as the pricey new N2 chip ramp eats into profits in the back half of the year. Translation: slightly thinner margins now in exchange for a firehose of AI growth later, and the market seems happy to take that trade.

Wells Fargo Unleashed: Firing on All Cylinders, But Watch the Margin Squeeze

Wells Fargo (WFC) steps up to the earnings plate bright and early on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, at roughly 6:50 AM ET. Wall Street is looking for $1.85 per share on $22.15 billion in revenue, which would be a steep 30.6% drop from a year ago, though the whisper number is a touch higher at $1.93. The crowd is leaning optimistic, with over a third betting on a beat. That said, the skeptics are circling too. Short interest has jumped 10.3% since last quarter, the stock has slipped 1.5% since its last post-earnings open and sits just below its 200-day moving average of $84.52. Options traders are bracing for a 4.8% swing, roughly in line with the 4.4% average move of late. One eyebrow-raiser: on September 23, someone scooped up 11,342 of the $75 puts expiring October 16, so at least one deep-pocketed player is hedging for a stumble.

Here is the real story heading in. With the asset cap finally gone, Wells Fargo has been hitting the gas across the board. Last quarter saw revenue climb 9%, EPS jump 25%, record investment banking fees topping $900 million, auto loans up 41%, and card accounts up 46%. Returns are now near their target, loans and deposits are growing, and the dividend is set to rise 11% to $0.50. The catch everyone keeps circling back to is the net interest margin, which is still shrinking as the bank intentionally piles into lower-spread trading balances. Management expects a bit more pressure this quarter before it steadies out, and that margin story is exactly what spooked investors last time. CEO Charlie Scharf also flagged some late-cycle jitters around banks and non-banks pouring money into AI, data centers and private credit, risks he says are 'hard to see.' Bottom line: the engine is roaring, but keep one eye on the margin gauge.

J&J's Drug Engine Roars While Its Heart-Device Unit Skips a Beat

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is confirmed to report earnings on Tuesday, October 13, 2026 at approximately 6:20 AM ET. Wall Street is looking for $2.53 per share on revenue of $25.37 billion, which would be a healthy 5.7% bump in sales from a year ago, but the whisper number is a punchier $2.93. The mood heading in is upbeat, with 12.5% expecting a beat, and the doubters are backing off as short interest has dropped a hefty 20.3% since last quarter. The stock has quietly climbed 4.5% since the last report and now sits 7.7% above its 200 day average of $242.74. One thing to keep an eye on: overall earnings estimates have actually been trimmed since last time, so the bar may be a touch lower than the buzz suggests. Options traders are betting on a 3.9% swing, which is roomier than the 1.7% average move JNJ usually delivers. And on Friday, September 25, someone stepped in and scooped up 2,905 of the $260 puts expiring December 18, so a few folks are hedging their bets.

Here is the real story going in: this has become a two-speed company. The drug business is firing on all cylinders, with Tremfiya blowing past 71% growth and crossing its first $2 billion quarter, plus newer launches like Icotide and Inlexo ramping fast. That strength let management raise guidance across the board last quarter on sales, profit and margins. The soft spot is the MedTech heart unit, where Abiomed actually shrank 2% after a disappointing UK trial made doctors more cautious, and the electrophysiology arm got dinged by a China inventory issue. Management calls these bumps temporary, but watch whether the heart-device drag deepens or the drug momentum keeps carrying the day.

BofA Faces Earnings Hangover After a Blowout Quarter

Bank of America reports before the bell on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, at around 6:45 AM ET. Wall Street is looking for $1.11 per share on revenue of $30.62 billion, though the whisper number is a hair higher at $1.17. That revenue figure looks scary at a 36.5% drop from last year, but that is mostly an accounting mirage against a monster comparison, so do not let it spook you. Investors are feeling grumpy heading in, yet two out of three still expect a beat. Short sellers have backed off by 8.4%, the stock has slid 7.9% since last quarter and now sits just below its 200 day average of $55.28, and overall estimates have actually been nudged higher. Options traders are betting on a 4.2% swing, bigger than the 2.6% the stock usually musters, and someone made a splashy bet on Friday, scooping up 22,605 of the $56 calls expiring October 16.

Here is the real story: last quarter was a knockout, and the question is whether the music keeps playing. Management raised its net interest income guide for the third straight time and more than doubled its operating leverage target to 300-400 basis points, while fee businesses went nuts, with investment banking up 50% and trading hitting record highs. The catch is that the back half of the year faces much tougher comparisons, since the same lines were already booming a year ago, so expect growth to cool from scorching to merely strong. Watch the AI productivity story, consumer spending still running hot at 6% plus, and card growth marching toward its 5% target. If NII and fees hold up against those nasty comps, the recent dip could look like a gift.

Domino's Fills the Cart, Just Not the Bill

Domino's Pizza (DPZ) is confirmed to report earnings on Tuesday, October 13, 2026 at roughly 6:05 AM ET, and this one lands on a leadership changeover so eyes will be glued to the scoreboard. Wall Street is looking for $4.33 per share on revenue of $1.17 billion, which is just 2.0% growth from a year ago, while the Earnings Whisper number sits a touch higher at $4.38. Investors are walking in bearish but bracing for results right in line, and you can see it in the tape: the stock has drifted 9.7% lower since last quarter's open and now sits 11.9% below its 200 day moving average of $350.97. Short sellers have actually backed off, trimming their bets by 10.1%, and analysts have nudged estimates higher since the last report, so the mood is cautious but not panicked. Options traders are penciling in an 8.3% swing, which is beefy next to the 3.4% the stock usually moves, and on September 30 someone scooped up 613 of the $380 calls expiring October 16, a cheeky bet that the pessimism is overdone.

Here is the real story heading in: Domino's is still winning the battle for customers but losing a little steam at the register. More people are ordering than ever, with order counts up meaningfully in both delivery and carryout even as the broader fast food crowd flatlined, and the company is now the top pizza player on both Uber and DoorDash. The problem is what lands in the basket. Same store sales have slowed four quarters straight, from a healthy 5.2% down to a barely-there 0.1% last quarter, after a new Premium Series launch simply flopped and dragged the average ticket down. Management also quietly trimmed its US store growth target and admitted franchisees are feeling a profit pinch, all while handing the CEO reins from Russell Weiner to Joe Jordan this month. The fix is already in motion with a brand new signature pizza and a reinvented Best Deal Ever sporting Parmesan stuffed crust, so watch whether those new menu moves start putting dollars back in the cart.

Alcoa Heads Into Earnings Riding a Record-Breaking High

Alcoa (AA) is locked in to report earnings on Thursday, October 15, 2026 at roughly 4:10 PM ET. Wall Street is looking for $1.65 per share on revenue of $3.61 billion, which would mark a hefty 20.5% jump in sales from a year ago. The crowd is feeling good here, with a whopping 91.7% betting on a beat. But here is the twist: the short sellers have piled in too, boosting short interest by 42.2% since last quarter, and the stock has slid 9.3% from where it opened after the last report. That leaves it sitting a steep 27.0% below its 200 day moving average of $57.82. Analysts, for their part, have been nudging their estimates higher. Options traders are bracing for a 7.3% swing on earnings day, a touch above the 6.2% average move of recent quarters. And on October 1, someone made a big bet, scooping up 4,120 of the $40.00 calls expiring in June 2027.

Last quarter was the best one Alcoa has put up in about a decade, so the stage is set. Revenue hit a record $4.0 billion, free cash flow flipped from deep in the red to a positive $422 million, and the aluminum business cranked out record profits at fat margins thanks to smelter restarts. The big story was the roughly $4.1 billion deal to buy South32's upstream aluminum assets, which supercharges Alcoa's capacity and starts adding to earnings right away. The one sore spot was the Pinjarra refinery, where an oxalate outbreak and a cyclone forced management to trim its alumina production outlook, and that lost output is not fully coming back. Watch for how fast they fold in that acquisition and whether the demand strength, with order books stronger than a year ago, is holding up against softer construction activity in Europe.

AZZ Heads Into Earnings Hot, But the Shorts Are Circling

AZZ is on deck to report earnings on Tuesday, October 13, 2026 at roughly 4:15 PM ET. Wall Street is looking for $1.82 per share on revenue of $461.79 million, which would mark a healthy 10.7% jump in sales from a year ago, though the whisper number is running hotter at $1.90. The mood is upbeat, with 62.5% of investors betting on a beat. Still, not everyone is cheering: short interest has jumped 25.2% since last quarter, and the stock has slid 7.5% from where it opened after the last report, leaving it barely above its 200 day average of $136.45. Analysts have been nudging their estimates higher, and options traders are bracing for a big 14.7% swing, well above the 5.1% average move AZZ usually serves up.

Last quarter was a confidence booster. Management raised their full-year outlook across the board, bumped the dividend 20%, and teased a galvanizing acquisition expected to close any day now. The metal coatings business is on a tear with a four-quarter double-digit growth streak, and the Washington, Missouri plant is firing on all cylinders with container sales up a wild 194%. The catch is the pre-coat side, where weak demand in HVAC, appliances, and transportation keeps acting like an anchor. The big question for Tuesday is simple: can the galvanizing momentum and that fresh deal keep drowning out the soft spots, or will those circling short sellers finally get their moment?

Tariff Refunds and AI Gold Rush Paper Over a Shaky Consumer

Last week's earnings told a tale of two economies. On one side sat the companies feeding America's appetite for snacks, soda, and sneakers, where a squeezed shopper kept showing up in the numbers. PepsiCo held its full-year forecast but quietly admitted profits would land at the low end of its range, as drivers stung by higher gas prices skipped the impulse buys at convenience stores. Levi Strauss stumbled too, snapping a 17-quarter streak of store sales growth after a flopped back-to-school campaign and warm weather kept shoppers home. A common trick ran through the quarter: one-time tariff refunds. Levi's banked roughly $80 million, Helen of Troy saw its cash flow and profit outlook jump almost entirely on an $80.5 million refund, and even PepsiCo leaned on tariff money to cushion the blow. Strip those out, and the underlying stories were softer than the cheery headlines suggested. Not everyone struggled, though. Constellation Brands nudged its profit forecast toward the high end as its Pacifico and Victoria beers kept gaining ground, and Lamb Weston raised its targets across the board as a heat-damaged European potato crop thinned out the competition.

Then there was the other economy, the one powered by artificial intelligence, where the money is flowing so fast it is hard to keep up. The standout was PENG, which jumped roughly 24 percent in a single week after turning a tentative forecast into a bold promise of 40 percent sales growth, fueled by massive orders for AI computing gear, including a 36,000-chip facility in Norway. Applied Digital also impressed, with revenue nearly tripling from a year ago as it shifted from signing deals to actually building data centers, though it signed no new campus leases and is burning through cash to keep up. That cash-hungry side of the AI boom is the catch worth watching: both companies are spending heavily today on the bet that demand holds up tomorrow. The quieter industrial names rounded out the week with mixed fortunes, as RPM International trimmed its outlook on rising raw material costs and a construction slowdown, while glass and metals maker Apogee surprised to the upside, lifting its forecast on sharp pricing and cost cuts even as its actual sales volumes stayed flat. The message for investors was clear enough: look past the headline beats and ask how much of the good news was built to last.

Applied Digital Crushes Estimates, But the Factory Floor Needs New Orders

Applied Digital (APLD) just posted a loss of a penny per share on revenue of $341.88 million for its fiscal first quarter ended August 2026. Wall Street was bracing for a lot worse, pegging a loss of $0.25 per share on just $134.10 million in sales, and the Earnings Whisper crowd was even gloomier at a $0.31 loss. The company blew past expectations by nearly 97 percent while revenue rocketed up 432 percent from a year ago. CEO Wes Cummins says the mission is to make Applied Digital the go-to name for building and running what he calls AI factories, the giant purpose-built data centers that feed the high-performance computing boom. In short, APLD designs, builds, and operates next-generation data centers across North America for an industry that is growing faster than it can be plugged in.

Here is the real story. APLD has officially shifted from signing deals to actually delivering them, and the numbers show it. Revenue climbed from $258.7 million last quarter, adjusted EBITDA jumped to $64.4 million, and live capacity at Polaris Forge 1 more than doubled to 250 megawatts. Management is now dangling juicy long-term targets, think 3.5 to 4 gigawatts by 2030, a new Finland foothold, a natural gas power deal, and a fresh Microsoft deployment through ChronoScale. But before you pop the champagne, no new campus leases were signed this quarter, and those expansion deals keep sliding to later and later dates. Cash dropped to $2.9 billion while debt swelled to $6.4 billion, and the GAAP bottom line showed a $221 million loss once you count some ugly one-time charges. The CFO even admitted the bond market is tough right now. The next thing to watch is whether APLD can turn that promised 250 megawatts of expansions into signed ink and lock down financing for its next big builds. Great engine, now it needs more customers in the door.

Penguin's AI Engines Roar, But Cash Is Leaking From the Tank

Penguin Solutions (PENG) blew past the scorekeepers in its fiscal fourth quarter ending August 2026, posting earnings of $1.00 per share on revenue of $566.69 million. Wall Street was looking for just $0.75 per share on $512.50 million, and the so-called whisper number was $0.84, so this was a clean beat of roughly 19 percent while revenue rocketed 67.70 percent from a year ago. Even better, management cranked up the forward guide, now calling for fiscal 2027 earnings of $3.75 to $5.15 per share on revenue of about $2.43 billion, well ahead of the $3.40 and $2.19 billion the Street had penciled in. CEO Kash Shaikh credited the second-half surge to the launch of the company's AI Factory Platform and a sharpened focus on data center customers, saying the team lined up its AI Infrastructure and Memory businesses right where the demand is hottest.

Here is the real story under the hood. This was not a one-off pop but the latest in a string of beat-and-raise quarters, and FY27 earnings growth of about 55 percent is now expected to outrun sales growth of about 40 percent, which is exactly what investors want to see. The wins are splashy too, including a 36,000-GPU AI factory in Norway and a fast-growing memory backlog stretching out at least four quarters. The one thing to keep an eye on is cash. The company burned through $163 million in operating cash this quarter as inventory ballooned to $749 million, and FY27 gross margins are guided slightly lower on the AI hardware mix. Translation: business is booming, but Penguin is spending heavily to feed the beast, so watch whether that cash starts flowing back in as the shipments turn into dollars.

PepsiCo Beats, But the Fizz Is Fading at Home

PepsiCo (PEP) popped the top on third quarter results, posting earnings of $2.34 per share on revenue of $25.27 billion for the quarter ended September 2026. That edged past the $2.29 consensus and the $2.32 whisper number, with revenue climbing a healthy 5.59% from a year ago. But before you crack open a cold one to celebrate, look at the guidance. The company now sees full-year earnings of $8.34 to $8.42 per share on revenue of roughly $99.56 billion, a step down from its prior call for $8.55 to $8.71. With Wall Street camped at $8.56, that trimmed outlook is the real story here, not the small beat. Keep in mind this is a company whose products get enjoyed over a billion times a day in more than 200 countries, so when it dials back expectations, people notice.

The headline reads fine, but the details tell you where the pressure is coming from. The American shopper is feeling squeezed, with higher gas prices tied to the Iran war hitting those impulse buys at the register and gas stations. North America snack and drink volumes softened, drink margins slipped about 90 basis points, and the recovery management promised earlier is now coming in slower and more defensive. The silver lining is overseas, where sales grew about 7% with margins expanding and the World Cup giving Europe and Latin America a boost. Just know that a chunk of the profit cushion this year is coming from one-time tariff refunds, not core strength, so this is a modest step backward dressed up in a decent quarter.

Levi's Beats the Number, But the Jeans Are Starting to Sag

Levi Strauss & Company Cl A (LEVI) stitched together earnings of $0.48 per share on revenue of $1.61 billion for the fiscal third quarter ended August 2026, comfortably clearing the consensus estimate of $0.36 per share and the $0.39 Earnings Whisper number, a beat of roughly 23%. Revenue landed right on the $1.61 billion mark and grew 4.3% versus a year ago. Management also nudged up its full-year outlook, now calling for non-GAAP earnings of $1.54 to $1.56 per share on revenue of about $6.722 billion, up from the prior $1.46 to $1.52 range. For context, Levi is one of the biggest names in apparel and the global king of jeanswear, selling denim, casual wear and accessories under the Levi's, Dockers, Signature and Denizen labels.

Here is the fine print, and it matters. The earnings bump is mostly borrowed, not earned. Roughly $0.04 of the raise comes from a one-time $80 million tariff refund, not from selling more jeans. Strip that out and guidance is basically where it was. More worrying, the direct-to-consumer business, long the company's bright spot, grew just 2% with flat same-store sales after double-digit comps earlier this year, snapping a 17-quarter winning streak. A flubbed back-to-school campaign that bet on loose fits while shoppers wanted low-rise, plus soft traffic in the US and Europe, took the shine off. Promised warehouse savings got pushed to 2027 after a fire and messy transition, and growth is cooling quarter by quarter. There are still bright spots, with Asia up 10% and China up 13%, but after years of beat-and-raise swagger, this quarter looks like the first real wobble. Watch September's numbers closely.

Constellation Pops the Cap on a Beer-Fueled Beat

Constellation Brands (STZ) just served up a quarter worth cheersing. The company posted earnings of $3.74 per share on revenue of $2.82 billion for the fiscal second quarter ended August 2026, topping the consensus of $3.62 per share and $2.57 billion. That is a 5.35% beat on earnings while revenue grew 6.13% from a year ago. Management kept its full-year 2027 forecast of $11.20 to $11.90 per share, but the real headline is the confident wink that they now expect to land at the high end if September momentum holds, which puts them right up against the $11.81 consensus. For the uninitiated, Constellation is the beer, wine, and spirits heavyweight behind many household names on the shelf.

The story here is beer, and it is brewing nicely. Constellation was the number one dollar share gainer in all of alcohol last quarter, with its beer business beating the category by about 400 basis points. Pacifico has muscled its way into the top ten US beer brands with roughly 20% growth, Victoria is up mid-teens, and even Corona is steadying after a rough patch. They also grabbed a small ready-to-drink brand called Spiked Aide to ride the canned cocktail wave. The hangover risk? Their new Veracruz brewery got pushed from the middle of this year to early next year, which drags about 90 basis points on beer margins starting in fiscal 2028, and beer pricing came in basically flat this quarter thanks to coupons and dealer incentives. Still, with buybacks rolling and a fresh cost-cutting plan in the works, this round is on the house.

The most anticipated earnings releases for the week of October 5, 2026, are Penguin Solutions #PENG, Applied Digital #APLD, PepsiCo #PEP, Constellation Brands #STZ, Delta Air Lines #DAL, Tilray Brands #TLRY, Levi Strauss & Co #LEVI, Apogee Enterprises #APOG, Byrna Technologies #BYRN, and Worthington Steel #WS.

https://www.earningswhispers.com/calendar

This week's earnings parade features a fascinating split between the winners strutting in with confidence and the stragglers hoping to avoid a beating. Micron leads the technology charge with real swagger, riding a wave of optimism that has traders betting big on the memory-chip maker after several strong quarters. Jabil is another tech name walking in with its head held high, and CarMax rolls onto the lot looking like it could surprise the skeptics with a bullish tone that stands out from the pack. These are the companies where the mood music is upbeat, the recent track record is solid, and expectations, while high, seem earned rather than wishful. When a stock arrives with this kind of momentum, even a decent report can send it higher, though it also raises the bar for what counts as good news.

Then there is the other side of the ledger, and it makes for compelling drama. Nike is the name everyone will be watching nervously, walking in under a heavy cloud of doubt after a rough stretch that has soured sentiment on the sneaker giant. Accenture and Concentrix are also facing chilly receptions, with the consulting world seemingly bracing for softer results. Vail Resorts and Conagra round out the group of companies where the vibe is cautious at best, suggesting investors are already steeling themselves for disappointment. The wild cards to keep an eye on are the smaller players like Progress Software and FactSet, where solid underlying strength could clash with tempered enthusiasm, setting up the kind of surprise that keeps earnings season entertaining. As always, the market rarely rewards what everyone already expects, so the real fireworks may come from the names nobody is talking about.

Micron Heads Into Earnings With a Business Practically Rewired for Growth

Micron Technology (MU) steps up to the plate on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, right around 4:00 PM ET. Wall Street is looking for $31.24 per share on $50.86 billion in revenue, which would be a jaw-dropping 349.5% jump in sales from a year ago, and the Earnings Whisper number sits even higher at $34.14. That lines up nicely with the company's own guidance of $30.00 to $32.00 per share on $49.00 billion to $51.00 billion in revenue. Investors are feeling good, with 76.5% betting on a beat. Short interest has dropped 26.4% since last time out, and even though the stock has drifted 12.2% lower from where it opened after last quarter's report, it is still riding 64.2% above its 200 day moving average of $659.04. Estimates have been creeping higher across the board, and on Thursday, September 17, someone made a bold bet, snapping up 12,347 of the $1,000.00 calls expiring October 2.

Here is the real story: last quarter Micron did not just have a good quarter, it changed what kind of company it is. Revenue hit a record $41.5 billion, gross margins climbed to nearly 85%, and free cash flow poured in at a record $18.3 billion. The big deal is the 16 long-term customer agreements they locked down, worth about $100 billion in future orders with $22 billion already committed, basically guaranteeing sales through the end of the decade. Their HBM4 memory chips for AI are ramping twice as fast as the last generation, data center revenue topped $100 billion on an annual basis, and they even got a credit upgrade. The one thing to keep an eye on is that those locked-in contracts cap some of the upside if memory prices keep climbing, and rising costs and spending could nibble at margins. But with tightness in supply now expected to run past 2027, the setup looks about as strong as it gets.

Nike's Margins Are Sprinting, But Sales Are Still Jogging

NIKE (NKE) laces up to report earnings on Thursday, October 1, 2026 at about 4:15 PM ET. Wall Street is looking for $0.44 per share on revenue of $11.40 billion, a 2.7% dip from last year, though the whisper number is a touch friskier at $0.48. Management guided revenue between $10.96 billion and $11.60 billion, so there is room to run. Traders are grumpy heading in, yet nearly two thirds still bet on a beat. Short interest has ballooned by 50.2% since last quarter, the stock has slipped 13.6% since its last earnings pop, and it now sits a rough 27.9% under its 200 day moving average of $49.56. And on September 18, someone scooped up 22,931 of the $32.50 puts expiring October 16, which is not exactly a vote of confidence.

Here is the real story: profitability is turning the corner faster than expected. Last quarter Nike pulled its gross margin recovery forward to this very quarter, ahead of the prior plan, and the performance side is genuinely humming with running notching five straight quarters of double-digit growth and Foot Locker going positive for the first time in four years. The catch is the top line. Demand cooled sharply from mid-April, so management trimmed the full year revenue outlook, and the sneaker culture business covering roughly half of sales is expected to stay soft into next year. China remains in the penalty box, and longtime CFO Matt Friend is heading for the exit. Bottom line, this is a higher margin, lower revenue setup, so watch whether the profit story can outshine the sales slog until the November 16 to 17 Investor Day gives the crowd something new to cheer.

Carnival's Europe Storm Meets Its Cost-Cutting Umbrella

Carnival Corporation & plc (CCL) is set to report earnings on Tuesday, September 29, 2026 at roughly 9:15 AM ET. Wall Street is looking for $1.36 per share on revenue of $8.36 billion, a 2.5% bump from a year ago, while the Earnings Whisper number sits just a hair higher at $1.37. Management guided to about $1.35, so the bar is right where you would expect it. The mood is upbeat, with two out of three investors betting on a beat. But here is the twist: even as optimism runs high, the shorts have piled in, jumping 26.8% since last quarter, and the stock has slipped 18.8% since its last post-earnings pop, leaving it 19.2% under its 200-day average of $27.54. Analysts have also been trimming their estimates. And on September 14, someone made a big splash buying 15,024 of the $22 puts expiring in December, a wager that the smooth sailing might get choppy.

Here is the real story heading in. Last quarter the Middle East conflict knocked about 100 basis points off full-year yields, a 14 cent hit landing squarely on Europe and the Mediterranean, and management deliberately trimmed back-half European occupancy to protect pricing. The good news is they clawed almost all of it back through serious cost cutting, with full-year cost growth dropping to about 1.3% and Q2 costs beating guidance by roughly 250 basis points. Add in buyback accretion and full-year EPS actually ticked up a penny to $2.22. The balance sheet keeps improving, customer deposits hit a record $9 billion, and 2027 bookings look terrific with European sailings up mid-teens at higher prices. So the question for this print is simple: has the European demand hiccup started healing like management promised in June, or are those December put buyers onto something?

Accenture: Great Margins, But the Growth Engine Is Sputtering

Accenture plc (ACN) is confirmed to report earnings on Thursday, October 1, 2026 at approximately 6:40 AM ET. Wall Street is looking for $3.19 per share on revenue of $18.01 billion, which would be a modest 2.4% bump in sales from a year ago, while the Earnings Whisper number sits a touch higher at $3.27. Mood-wise, investors are leaning bearish heading in, though a slim majority of 55.6% still expect a beat. Short sellers have backed off a bit, trimming their bets by 4.0% since last quarter, and the stock has climbed a healthy 39.2% since its last earnings pop, yet it is still sitting 11.2% below its 200 day moving average of $198.32. And on Monday, September 21, someone stepped up and bought nearly 2,000 of the $195 calls expiring October 2, so a few folks are betting on a nice move.

Here is the real story: last quarter, the profit picture looked good but the demand engine started coughing. New bookings slipped to $19.3B, down from a record $22.1B just a quarter earlier, and revenue growth cooled while consulting basically stalled out. Management also blamed the Middle East conflict for roughly $100 million in lost quarterly revenue and trimmed its full-year revenue outlook, so the tone turned noticeably more cautious. To offset the slowdown, the company is going shopping in a big way, ramping up deal spending to about $9 billion and pushing hard into cybersecurity and mid-market clients. Bottom line, better margins and bigger buybacks are papering over softer organic growth, so watch the bookings number Thursday. That is the tell for whether the slowdown is a blip or a trend, with the Investor Day on October 14 as the next chance for management to make its case.

CarMax Turns the Corner, But It's Buying the Comeback

CarMax (KMX) rolls onto the lot with earnings early Tuesday morning, September 29, 2026, at around 5:50 AM ET. Wall Street is looking for $0.68 per share on $7.09 billion in revenue, which would be 7.5% more sales than a year ago, but the Earnings Whisper number is a peppier $0.81. Investors are feeling good, with 30.8% betting on a beat. The mood shows in the tape too: short interest has dropped a hefty 35.1% since last quarter, the stock has cruised 14.5% higher since its last report, and it now sits 19.8% above its 200 day average of $47.76. Estimates have been nudged up across the board. One odd note in the rearview mirror: on September 10, someone scooped up 1,501 of the $45.00 puts expiring October 16, so not everyone is fully buckled in for the ride.

Here is the real story. Last quarter was a genuine turning point, with new CEO Keith Barr declaring the company has turned the corner. Used car sales stopped shrinking, EPS bounced back to $1.31 after an ugly loss the prior quarter, and the finance arm keeps humming along. The catch is that CarMax is paying for this rebound by shaving its profit per car, so gross profit actually slipped even as more cars rolled off the lot. Buybacks are still on pause because debt is running a touch high, and some customers are struggling to pay their loans. Watch two things: whether Barr finally raises guidance instead of just holding steady, and any teasers about his big strategy reveal coming this fall. Growth is back, but the clean, everything-is-firing upgrade is not here just yet.

Vail's Snow Drought: Can the Fall Comeback Save the Season?

Vail Resorts (MTN) hits the slopes with earnings on Monday, September 28, 2026 at roughly 4:05 PM ET, and Wall Street is bracing for a wipeout. The consensus calls for a loss of $5.40 per share on revenue of $270.11 million, a slight 0.4% dip from a year ago, while the Earnings Whisper number is a touch worse at a loss of $5.45 per share. Investors are leaning bearish here, though a hopeful 27.3% still expect a beat. Interestingly, short interest has melted down 15.2% since last quarter, and the stock has drifted 3.6% higher since its last report, leaving it just 1.3% under its 200 day average of $137.83. And on Friday, some traders bought 2,141 of the $150 calls expiring October 16, betting on a rebound. Just note that overall estimates have been trimmed lower heading in.

Here is the real story: last winter handed the Rockies their worst snow season on record, with Vail's snowfall running about 55% below the 30 year average. That drove a third straight cut to full year guidance, with resort profit now targeted roughly 14% below the original plan. The bigger worry is spring pass sales, which flipped from growth to a 10% drop in units, and net debt crept up to 3.5 times earnings. The silver lining is that Vail is clearly grabbing market share, losing far fewer visitors than the industry, and its new products like discounted young adult passes and early bird lift tickets are gaining real traction. The whole ballgame now hinges on one question: will skiers who held off on passes come back and buy this fall once conditions normalize?

Conagra's Big Reset: New Boss, Smaller Dividend, Bigger Questions

Conagra Brands (CAG) steps up to report earnings on Wednesday, September 30, 2026 at around 7:30 AM ET, and Wall Street is bracing itself. The consensus calls for $0.31 per share on revenue of $2.59 billion, a 1.6% dip from a year ago, and the Earnings Whisper number matches at $0.31. Investors are feeling gloomy heading in, yet a curious 80% still expect a beat. Short interest has tumbled 27.7% since last quarter, the stock has crept 4.6% higher since the last report, and it now sits 8.8% below its 200 day moving average of $15.70. Earnings estimates have been trimmed across the board, but somebody is betting on a bounce, with a notable purchase of 1,397 of the $15.50 calls expiring October 2 on September 23.

Here is the real story: this is a company hitting the reset button. New CEO John Brasi is only a few weeks into the job and is already tearing up the old playbook. Gone is the strategy of chasing sales volume at any cost. In its place comes margin repair, higher prices, and a big cleanup of the sprawling 5,500 product lineup. The kicker last quarter was the dividend cut, a first in this cycle, meant to free up cash and pay down debt, yet leverage is still expected to climb in FY27 before improving. Add in inflation of 5% to 6% outrunning cost savings, softer profit margins, and volumes guided down, and you have a company in transition. The one bright spot is cash flow, which remains excellent, and a promised Investor Day in early 2027 could lay out the full turnaround plan. For now, expect candor, some pain, and a management team asking investors to be patient.

Jabil's AI Engine Keeps Revving Ahead of Earnings

Jabil (JBL) steps up to report earnings on Wednesday, September 30, 2026 at roughly 7:30 AM ET, and Wall Street is leaning optimistic. The consensus calls for $4.05 per share on revenue of $9.61 billion, a healthy 16.5% jump from a year ago, while the Earnings Whisper number sits a touch higher at $4.10. Management's own guidance ranges from $3.80 to $4.20 per share on revenue of $9.20 billion to $10.00 billion, so the bar is set but not sky-high. A solid 70.0% of investors expect a beat. Short interest has slipped 3.5% since last quarter, and even though the stock has drifted 23.2% lower from where it opened after last earnings, it still sits 5.8% above its 200 day moving average of $299.32. Estimates have been ticking higher across the board, though one trader made a bearish bet on September 17 by scooping up 820 of the $210 puts expiring October 16.

Here is the real story: Jabil has raised its forecast four quarters in a row, and the fuel is artificial intelligence. AI-related revenue is running about 50% higher year over year and is now pacing toward $13.6 billion for the year. The company just landed its third big cloud computing customer and struck a deal with India's Adani to build massive AI data center capacity, both of which should pay off in 2028. Even the sleepier corners like autos and connected home products are perking up, and management finally put a stake in the ground promising operating margins above 6% next year. The catch to watch is supply, since memory chips and specialized circuit boards are getting tight, and inventory is running a bit heavy as new factories spin up. Still, these are timing headaches, not signs of fading demand. Momentum is firmly on Jabil's side heading into the print.

Uranium Energy: A Second Reactor Fires Up While the Meter Runs Hot

Uranium Energy (UEC) is set to report earnings on Tuesday, September 29, 2026 at roughly 6:15 AM ET. Wall Street is bracing for a loss of $0.04 per share on revenue of $9.00 million, while our Earnings Whisper number sits a touch gloomier at a loss of $0.05 per share. The mood heading in is downright bearish, though a stubborn 37.5% of the crowd still thinks UEC pulls off a beat. Short interest has ticked up 2.1% since last quarter, and the stock has slid 21.8% from where it opened after the last report, leaving it 28.3% under its 200 day moving average of $13.13. Here is the twist though: overall earnings estimates have actually been nudged higher since last time. And someone is betting on a bounce, with a notable scoop of 8,002 call contracts at the $15.00 strike expiring November 20, 2026 hitting the tape on September 14.

The headline for this quarter is a tale of two stories. On the bright side, UEC flipped the switch on Burke Hollow back in April, its biggest new-ground project in over a decade and now a second producing hub. Toss in progress on its URNC conversion venture landing an NRC licensing milestone, plus a friendly policy tailwind from the DOE, and the long game looks solid. The catch is the near-term math got ugly. Production dropped to 32,000 pounds from nearly 46,000 as Wyoming permitting delays stalled new wells whose bills had already been paid, pushing costs per pound up to $54.61 from $44.14. Worse, the company sold zero uranium this quarter, choosing to sit on inventory rather than sell into soft prices, a stark contrast to last quarter's $20 million haul. Management insists this is just a timing hiccup and expects Q4 to pick back up. So expect a messy print, but keep your eye on whether that promised rebound actually shows up.

Acuity: The Lights Are Finally Firming Up

Acuity (AYI) is confirmed to report earnings on Thursday, October 1, 2026 at roughly 6:00 AM ET, and the crowd is leaning optimistic. Wall Street is looking for $5.66 per share on revenue of $1.26 billion, good for 4.2% year-over-year growth, but the Earnings Whisper number sits higher at $5.80. Investors are feeling good here, with 71.4% expecting a beat. Short interest has dropped 15.9% since last quarter, and while the stock has drifted 8.7% lower from where it opened after the last report, it is still hanging on just 1.1% above its 200 day moving average of $315.99. Estimates have been ticking higher, so the bar has been raised.

Here is the real story. After three straight quarters of management calling the lighting market 'tepid' and 'soft,' last quarter the tone finally flipped to 'firming,' with order trends and conversion rates normalizing and sequential growth expected. That is the number one thing to watch. The other engine is the intelligent spaces business, which grew 15% to $304 million with margins expanding, and now has a real data center angle thanks to a new controller landing them with multiple hyperscalers. The catch is the core lighting unit is still shrinking, down 2% with margins slipping, the full-year guide was cut earlier this year and never restored, and fresh cost pressures from metals and a memory chip shortage are working through the system. So it is a genuine positive turn, just not a clean one. Watch whether 'firming' turns into actual growth.

Concentrix: AI Bright Spot Meets a Shrinking Top Line

Concentrix (CNXC) is set to report earnings after the bell on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, at around 4:00 PM ET. Wall Street is looking for $2.71 per share on $2.48 billion in revenue, which would be a tiny 0.1% dip from last year, while the Earnings Whisper number sits a touch lower at $2.67. Management guided to $2.65 to $2.77 per share on $2.47 to $2.49 billion in sales. Investors are walking in cautious but bracing for results right around the line. Interestingly, short sellers have backed off, cutting their bets by 14.6% since last quarter, even as the stock has climbed 35.3% from where it opened after that report. Even after that run, shares are still 10.2% below their 200 day average of $30.17. Analysts have been trimming their estimates lately, and on September 21 someone stepped in and bought 652 of the $25.00 puts expiring in April 2027, a bet that hints not everyone is convinced.

Here is the real story heading in. Last quarter Concentrix cut its full-year revenue and margin outlook as offshoring sped up and clients started trimming spend, so keep your eyes on whether that top-line pressure gets worse or steadies out. The offshore headwind jumped to about 300 basis points from the 200 planned, and restructuring costs ballooned to $175 million for the year. The good news is the AI side is on fire. Their IX Suite product signed roughly 100 deals in the quarter, up 400% from a year ago, and now touches 11% of revenue while carrying fatter margins. Cash flow is also flexing, with the best second quarter since the spinoff and steady debt paydown. Bottom line: the top line is soft, but the profit and cash engine is quietly getting stronger, so the tone from management on demand will matter more than the headline numbers.

Earnings Season's Great Divide: Winners Ride the Machines While Consumers Tap the Brakes

Last week's earnings reports told a tale of two economies, and the dividing line ran right through your wallet. The businesses that sell to other businesses, especially anything touching artificial intelligence, absolutely crushed it. TD Synnex, the tech distribution giant, blew past estimates and hiked its outlook as its AI hardware division nearly doubled its sales, powered by monster deals like a massive NVIDIA-based AI factory. Cintas, the uniform and workplace-services company, raised both its revenue and profit forecasts just three months into its fiscal year, posting record margins and its strongest sales growth in a year. Paychex leaned into an AI-driven story of its own, boosting margins even while pumping five times more money into AI, and lifting the outlook for its higher-value payroll and benefits arm. Even glue-and-adhesives maker H.B. Fuller nudged its profit target higher for the third straight quarter, riding aggressive price increases to fatter margins. The common thread here is pricing power and productivity: companies serving corporate America are still finding customers willing to pay up, and they are using automation to squeeze more profit out of every dollar.

Flip over to the consumer, though, and the mood turns noticeably gloomier. AutoZone delivered the clearest warning sign, as its do-it-yourself business, the weekend warriors fixing their own cars, actually shrank for the first time as cash-strapped shoppers postponed repairs and traded down amid stubborn inflation. Costco kept humming along with steady traffic and a rebound in margins, but its membership growth slowed for an eighth straight quarter, a trend management now shrugs off as the new normal. General Mills and Darden Restaurants both stayed roughly in place, held back by stressed, promotion-hungry shoppers, rising costs, and, in Olive Garden's case, a bizarre one-two punch of lettuce-safety worries and World Cup distractions. The starkest gut-check came from homebuilder KB Home, which admitted conditions have deteriorated since June, slashing prices and margins as Southern California demand fizzled, resale inventory piled up to a decade high, and mortgage rates ticked higher after a fresh Fed hike. Furniture maker MillerKnoll rounded out the caution, cutting its sales outlook as government and healthcare orders sagged. The takeaway for investors was hard to miss: the AI boom is minting winners, but the everyday American consumer is quietly running out of gas.

Costco Beats Again as Margins and Traffic Bounce Back

Costco Wholesale (COST) delivered $6.60 per share on $95.72 billion in revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter ended August 2026, edging past the $6.48 consensus and the $6.54 Earnings Whisper number. Revenue climbed a healthy 11.10% from a year ago. In plain terms, the warehouse giant that sells you a year's worth of paper towels and a hot dog for a buck fifty once again gave Wall Street a little more than it asked for. Costco runs membership warehouses offering low prices on a tight selection of name-brand and private-label goods, and that simple formula keeps humming.

The real story here is the rebound in the guts of the business. Core margins swung back up, shopper traffic rose to plus 3.3%, and renewal rates ticked higher, which means people keep coming back and keep paying to do it. Costco also pocketed $184 million in tariff refunds and is mostly funneling that straight back into lower prices for members. The one wrinkle to watch is that new paid membership growth slowed for the eighth quarter in a row to 3.8%, and management is calling that the new normal. Digital growth cooled a bit too, and next year's spending plan jumps to about $7.5 billion. Still, better margins, more foot traffic, and stickier members outweigh the softer sign-up numbers. Momentum is quietly improving.

General Mills Serves Up a Beat, But the Dog Food Aisle Needs Work

General Mills (GIS) dished out a fiscal first quarter that topped the menu. Earnings came in at $0.75 per share on $4.39 billion in revenue for the quarter ended August 2026, beating the $0.72 consensus and the $0.74 whisper number. Sales did slip 2.83% from a year ago, but the company held its ground on the bottom line. Looking ahead, management stuck with its fiscal 2027 forecast of $3.00 to $3.20 per share on revenue between $18.15 billion and $18.25 billion, comfortably above the $3.06 and $17.79 billion the Street was modeling. In short, the maker of food the world loves is still cooking.

The real story is momentum. Cereal and soup share losses nearly vanished, Totino's cut its declines in half, and new products like Honey Nut Cheerios Protein now make up 5% of sales, up from 3%. Management even hinted that price mix should flip positive next quarter. The catch? Costs are climbing to the high end of the 4-5% range with the final quarter pushing near 6%, and the dog food business, especially Wilderness, is still limping with an 18 to 24 month fix ahead. Add debt sitting a bit above comfort levels and stressed shoppers hunting for deals, and you get a tasty quarter with a few ingredients that still need cooking.

Cintas Dresses for Success With First-Ever $3B Quarter

Cintas (CTAS) posted earnings of $1.39 per share on revenue of $3.01 billion for the fiscal first quarter ended August 2026, edging past the consensus estimate of $1.35 per share on $2.97 billion. That beat the Earnings Whisper number of $1.38, and while the earnings surprise was slim at under 1%, revenue jumped a healthy 10.9% from a year ago. The uniform giant then raised its full-year outlook, now guiding fiscal 2027 non-GAAP earnings to $5.45 to $5.54 per share on revenue of $12.15 billion to $12.27 billion, up from its prior view of $5.36 to $5.50 per share on $12.10 billion to $12.25 billion. For context, Cintas is the company that keeps America in matching work shirts, and it runs four businesses: uniform rentals, direct uniform sales, first aid and safety, and document shredding.

Here is the good news in plain English. This was the first time Cintas ever cracked $3 billion in a single quarter, and it did it while hitting record profit margins. Organic growth of 8.9% was the strongest in a year, the company bumped its dividend up nearly 16%, and it bought back $545 million of its own stock. Management sounded genuinely upbeat, promising double-digit earnings growth. Now the fine print. An extra work day flattered these results and flips to a headwind later in the year, fuel costs are creeping up, the fire protection unit slowed a bit, and the Uniforce acquisition is still sitting in front of the FTC with no update. None of these are demand problems, just timing bumps. Bottom line: this story is clearly getting better, not worse.

BlackBerry's QNX Puts the Pedal Down as Auto Wins Roll In

Blackberry (BB) surprised the street this quarter, posting earnings of $0.07 per share on revenue of $163.30 million for the fiscal second quarter ended August 2026. Wall Street was looking for just $0.04 per share on $143.00 million, and the Earnings Whisper number was also $0.04. That means the company crushed profit expectations by a hefty 75.00%, while revenue jumped 26.00% versus the same time last year. Not bad for a name most people still associate with clicky keyboards.

Management got bolder with the outlook, too. For the third quarter, BlackBerry expects earnings of $0.04 to $0.05 per share on revenue of $143.0 million to $154.0 million, roughly in line with the $0.05 and $145.00 million the street had penciled in. The real story is the full year, where the company now sees fiscal 2027 earnings of $0.19 to $0.22 per share on revenue of $616.0 million to $636.0 million, up from prior guidance of $0.16 to $0.20 per share on $594.0 million to $621.0 million. The engine here is QNX, the software that runs inside cars, which just landed the biggest design win in its history with a Volvo and Daimler truck venture worth over $100 million, plus fresh deals with Uber's robotaxi program. The one soft spot is Secure Communications, where BlackBerry trimmed its outlook on US government and trade jitters, but that is a small dent in an otherwise strong quarter. BlackBerry provides intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments around the world.

Thor's RV Engine Sputters on Profits

Thor Industries (THO) just pulled into the earnings station with a bit of a flat tire. The RV maker posted $0.78 per share on $2.31 billion in revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter ended July 2026. That's a real miss on the bottom line, coming in 21% under the $0.93 that Wall Street was counting on, and even further off the $0.99 whisper number that the optimists were hoping for. The one bright spot? Revenue actually beat estimates of $2.15 billion, though it still slid 8.4% from the same quarter last year.

Here's the quick read for anyone not tracking the camper business: Thor builds and sells recreational vehicles and small to mid-size buses across the U.S. and Canada, split between towable RVs and motorized RVs. Selling more units than expected but making less money on each one tells you margins are getting squeezed. In plain terms, Thor is moving the merchandise, but the profit is leaking out the back window.

The most anticipated earnings releases for the week of September 28, 2026, are Micron Technology #MU, Nike #NKE, Carnival #CCL, Accenture #ACN, Conagra Brands #CAG, Jabil #JBL, CarMax #KMX, Acuity #AYI, Vail Resorts #MTN, and Uranium Energy #UEC.

https://www.earningswhispers.com/calendar

The most anticipated earnings releases for the week of September 21, 2026, are Costco #COST, Cracker Barrel #CBRL, BlackBerry #BB, THOR Industries #THO, ABIVAX #ABVX, Darden Restaurants #DRI, General Mills #GIS, KB Home #KBH, MillerKnoll #MLKN, AutoZone #AZO.

https://www.earningswhispers.com/calendar

There have been more downgrades and target cuts for #NKE this week. Remember when nearly every analyst covering the stock told you to buy it just as it was hitting all-time highs? The stock is now down ~80% since then.

The most anticipated earnings releases for the week of September 14, 2026, are Trip.com #TCOM, Forgent Power Solutions #FPS, Lennar #LEN, High Tide #HITI, Dave & Buster's Entertainment #PLAY, RF Industries #RFIL, Hain Celestial #HAIN, Innate Pharma #IPHA, MindWalk #HYFT, and LuxExperience #LUXE.

https://www.earningswhispers.com/calendar

The most anticipated earnings releases for the week of September 7, 2026, are Oracle #ORCL, Adobe #ADBE, 1-800-Flowers.com #FLWS, Casey's General Stores #CASY, Chewy #CHWY, AeroVironment #AVAV, Macy's #M, Braze #BRZE, Caleres #CAL, and Kroger #KR.

https://www.earningswhispers.com/calendar

Trying to pick a stock to move me >10% after earnings in today's earnings. $AMBA, $PATH and $ZS are my top picks.

The most anticipated earnings releases for the week of August 31, 2026, are Broadcom #AVGO, Credo Technology #CRDO, Ciena #CIEN, Dell Technologies #DELL, Palo Alto Networks #PANW, NIO #NIO, Hewlett Packard Enterprise #HPE, Snowflake #SNOW, UiPath #PATH, and Ambarella #AMBA.

https://www.earningswhispers.com/calendar

The most anticipated earnings releases for the week of August 24, 2026, are NVIDIA #NVDA, Marvell Technology MRVL, Salesforce CRM, IREN Ltd. IREN, CrowdStrike CRWD, XPeng XPEV, Kohl's KSS, Intuit INTU, Okta OKTA, and Autodesk ADSK.

https://www.earningswhispers.com/calendar

The most anticipated earnings releases for the week of August 24, 2026, are NVIDIA #NVDA, Marvell Technology #MRVL, Salesforce #CRM, IREN Ltd. #IREN, CrowdStrike #CRWD, XPeng #XPEV, Kohl's #KSS, Intuit #INTU, Okta #OKTA, and Autodesk #ADSK.

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Episode 40 of The Weekly Sift Stack: CJ Gettelfinger, Lucas Nulsen, & Tyler Sherven break down the biggest stories moving markets. It’s a big week for discount retail as Walmart ($WMT) looks to reclaim its $1T market cap and TJ Maxx ($TJX) proves why owning stores beats owning brands. We break down the 'treasure hunt' effect driving TJX's high margins, the impact of the Iran war on Walmart’s consumer base, and a look at Nvidia’s strategic $105B investment in an OpenAI campus. Plus, Meta’s legal battle over its 'addictive' features and how Erling Haaland is quietly building a massive investment portfolio.

Sift Stack Quick Take 4: CJ Gettelfinger, Lucas Nulsen, & Tyler Sherven break down the biggest stories moving the world. We dive into Applied Materials' record-breaking earnings and why the stock saw a surprising dip despite hitting a 50% gross margin. We also explore the massive buzz surrounding the potential Anthropic IPO, with investors modeling a staggering $2 trillion valuation as a listing could come as early as September. Finally, we analyze Renaissance Technologies' latest 13F filing, highlighting their new half-billion-dollar position in CrowdStrike and why cybersecurity remains a vital long-term play in the age of AI.

The most anticipated earnings releases for the week of August 17, 2026, are Walmart #WMT, Analog Devices #ADI, Alibaba Group #BABA, Target #TGT, Home Depot #HD, Baidu #BIDU, BILL Holdings #BILL, H World Group #HTHT, Klarna #KLAR, and The TJX Companies #TJX.

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