Earnings Chatter

Tuesday, July 21, 2026

At a glance: 19 S&P 500 names report today — headlined by Charles Schwab, Danaher and 3M pre-open (the latter two already out) and Chubb and Capital One after the close.

The tape ahead

3M and Danaher already printed before the open — both beats, covered below. Among names still to report, Schwab and Northrop Grumman carry the largest option-implied moves of the day.

Charles Schwab (SCHW), pre-open. The debate is whether record client assets and a rebound in net interest revenue can keep the beat streak alive — trading activity and asset-management fees have been the recent swing factors, and sell-side estimates have been revised up into the print. The 4.6% implied move sits above the 3.6% historical average print-day move, so the straddle is pricing this as more consequential than Schwab's own history suggests; an 88% beat rate and a +2.5% last surprise are the backdrop. Schwab IR

Danaher (DHR), pre-open — already reported. Adjusted EPS of $1.94 beat the $1.84 consensus, and revenue of $6.265B cleared the $6.139B Street number. The print is the first full quarter to include Masimo, closed June 10, which brought inventory fair-value adjustments and integration costs; high-growth markets now run near 31% of sales while developed-market demand (Europe, North America) stayed soft. The 7.3% implied move was priced well above the 4.4% historical average — worth watching whether the beat is enough to justify that premium once the tape reacts. Danaher press releases

Chubb (CB), after the close. Underwriting quality is the swing factor: softer commercial-property pricing and elevated catastrophe losses from severe weather are set against disciplined casualty/specialty pricing and favorable reserve development. A 100% historical beat rate and a modest 1.2% average print-day move make the 6.3% implied move priced today look rich by Chubb's own standards — the options market is bracing for more volatility than this name typically delivers. Chubb newsroom

Capital One (COF), after the close. The widest estimate range in today's group ($3.49–$5.34) reflects the market still digesting the Discover integration and the freshly closed, roughly $4.5B Brex deal, which is expected to trim CET1 by just over 40bps this quarter. Credit performance and integration-expense trajectory are the lines to watch; the 62% beat rate is the softest of today's cohort and the last print missed by 3.3%, while the 5.0% implied move (vs. a 1.3% historical average) says the market expects this one to move. Capital One IR

General Dynamics (GD), pre-open. Gulfstream deliveries and backlog, plus Marine Systems strength, are the swing factors after last quarter's guidance raise. Despite the defense/aerospace mix, the 1.8% implied move is priced below the 3.9% historical average — the cheapest setup of today's marquee names — with a 75% beat rate and an 11.1% surprise last time out. General Dynamics newsroom

Marsh McLennan (MRSH), pre-open. Organic growth and pricing power in the core insurance-brokerage business are the debate, with rising operating expenses flagged as a headwind to extending the beat streak. A 100% historical beat rate and a 2.1% last surprise are the track record; the 6.6% implied move sits well above the 3.5% historical average. Marsh McLennan newsroom

3M (MMM), pre-open — already reported. Adjusted EPS of $2.40 beat the $2.25 consensus, and revenue of $6.5B topped the $6.405B Street number — both matching the figures in today's data. 3M's release raised full-year adjusted EPS guidance, a signal on guidance credibility that had been the central debate into the print. The 5.6% implied move was priced below the 7.2% historical average, so the options market had actually been positioned for a quieter reaction than 3M's own history — worth watching against the size of today's beat. 3M Q2 2026 release (PRNewswire)

Northrop Grumman (NOC), pre-open. B-21 margin trajectory is the read to watch — the program has been recovering from prior-year loss provisions, and restricted-program volume has been a growth driver alongside B-2, F-35 and E-2 work. Today's 9.2% implied move is the largest of the group and sits well above the 5.0% historical average, with an 88% beat rate and a 1.3% last surprise. Read-across matters here for the rest of the defense complex reporting later this week (RTX, LMT Thursday). Northrop Grumman newsroom

Also reporting today

Eleven more S&P 500 names round out the day, spanning autos, energy and consumer: GM and D.R. Horton (DHI) pre-open, Halliburton (HAL) and EQT on the energy side, plus Interactive Brokers (IBKR), KeyCorp, Synchrony, MSCI, Equifax, Genuine Parts and Hasbro — consensus and timing only, no deep dive today.

Scorecard — reported since we last wrote

This is our first edition, so the scorecard below covers Monday's prints rather than a prior newsletter call. Steel Dynamics (STLD) beat by a scant 0.13% but fell 2.13% — reporting flagged a $16M non-cash write-down tied to relocating a planned aluminum recycling facility, with the aluminum segment still posting an operating loss and steel-fab income roughly flat on higher raw-material costs. W.R. Berkley (WRB) beat by 17.3% and gained 1.6%, with record pretax investment income and its second-best quarterly underwriting result on record — management flagged more competitive property/reinsurance pricing even as casualty stayed firm. Domino's (DPZ) missed by 2.4% yet rose 2.1% — revenue and order counts beat despite the weakest US same-store-sales quarter in over a year (+0.1%), which the market read as a smaller problem than the bottom-line miss implied.

Rest of the week

The week only gets heavier from here. Wednesday brings 28 reporters led by Alphabet, Tesla and Texas Instruments, with a telecom/industrials cluster (AT&T, IBM, ServiceNow, CSX, CME). Thursday is the peak of the week at 32 names, headlined by Intel, RTX, T-Mobile and Thermo Fisher, alongside Union Pacific, Lockheed Martin, Honeywell and Comcast — a heavy read-across day for defense (following Northrop and General Dynamics today) and industrials. Friday tapers sharply to six names topped by Exxon and American Express.

Informational only — not investment advice. Figures are consensus/estimates and option-implied values from public sources and may be revised.