Earnings Tracker: Week 1: Good news for Wall Street, Main Street, and AI

Research evidence excerpt

Earnings Tracker: Week 1: Good news for Wall Street, Main Street, and AI

Accessible version

Earnings Tracker

Week 1: Good news for Wall Street, Main

Street, and AI

Strong start: 88% beat on EPS, tracking 23% YoY growth 20 July 2026

Following the first week of earnings season, 50 S&P 500 companies (20% of index Equity and Quant Strategy

earnings) have reported. 88% beat EPS expectations, the strongest Week 1 beat rate in United States

more than three years and 20ppt above the historical avg. of 68%. Solid upside surprises Savita Subramanian

from Banks helped lift 2Q S&P 500 EPS (blend of actual results and consensus Equity & Quant Strategist

estimates) by 1% since July 1, bringing YoY growth to 23%. We expect growth to rise BofASsavita.subramanian@bofa.com

further to 28% as earnings season progresses (see our 2Q26 Preview). Victoria Roloff

Equity & Quant Strategist

Banks beat across the board; capital markets shine BofASvictoria.roloff@bofa.com

S&P 500 Banks sport a perfect scorecard, with no EPS misses so far. Commentary on John Chapman

the macro backdrop was constructive, highlighting healthy consumer spending and Equity & Quant Strategist

lower-than-expected delinquencies – positive read-throughs for Consumer Finance BofASjohn.chapman3@bofa.com

(report). Results point to resilience on Main Street, but capital markets were the See Team Page for List of Analysts

standout – see Goldman Sachs’ 45% EPS beat (GS recap). Our Banks analysts cite

multiple drivers for robust capital markets pipelines with AI just one of them.

Exhibit 1: 2Q EPS has been revised up by

Early cycle industrials cite “modest” demand improvement 1% since July 1

Distributor Fastenal (recap), a widely followed read-through for industrial activity given Revision to consensus S&P 500 2Q EPS