At a glance: 8 S&P 500 names report today — Verizon before the open, and Welltower, Cadence Design Systems, Oneok, Nucor, Public Storage, Hartford and Cincinnati Financial after the close.

The tape ahead

Verizon opens the day’s calendar before the bell, reporting into a setup built around whether a raised full-year guide actually holds. Management lifted its 2026 outlook over the summer — mid-single-digit adjusted EPS growth and low-single-digit mobility/broadband revenue growth — and is targeting the upper half of its postpaid-phone net-add range, with ARPU expected to turn positive by the fourth quarter as churn improvement takes hold. Consensus EPS of $1.27 (up 5.0% YoY) and revenue of $34.85B (up 3.1% YoY) imply modest, steady growth, but net margin has been compressing even as the top line holds up: last quarter’s net margin fell 3.5 points to 11.2% even as gross margin firmed 1.5 points to 61.8%, a gap worth watching given trailing EPS growth that is flat to negative across every window out to ten years. The 4.4% implied move sits only slightly above Verizon’s own 3.9% average swing, a modest premium against a perfect eight-for-eight beat streak and a 2.71% beat last quarter. Read-across extends to T-Mobile, which reports Wednesday, on whether the postpaid-phone fight is easing or intensifying into year-end.

Welltower’s print tests whether the senior-housing recovery that has driven the stock can keep compounding at its recent pace: same-store NOI grew 15.5% last quarter with the senior-housing-operating portfolio up 20.5%, same-store occupancy up 330 basis points to 89.4%, and revenue per occupied room up 5.2%, against full-year guidance of 13.75–16.00% blended same-store NOI growth. Consensus here rests on a single analyst estimate, thinner than most on this page: EPS of $0.71 (up 29.1% YoY) and revenue of $3.75B (up 39.7% YoY) imply the growth streak continues, with net margin up 19.0 points to 22.0% last quarter even as gross margin eased slightly. Welltower has no weekly options; the nearest expiry is the November monthly, so the 6.1% straddle spans roughly three and a half weeks of time rather than pricing the print itself, and shouldn’t be read against the 1.5% average move the way a same-week straddle would. The REIT’s own beat rate is more mixed than most here at 62%, with a 16.9% miss last time out. Read-across extends to the rest of the senior-housing group on whether occupancy gains are broadening across the sector or concentrated in Welltower’s own portfolio.

Cadence’s quarter is the next read on whether AI-driven EDA demand keeps compounding above its already-elevated run rate: the company has flagged a record backlog, agentic-AI tool adoption and strong IP licensing growth as drivers, with its own guidance bracketing a similar pace of growth to this quarter’s consensus. EPS consensus of $2.05 (up 6.2% YoY) trails revenue growth of 20.6% YoY on $1.62B — a gap that looks like mix and investment spend rather than weakening pricing — and margins have stayed essentially flat (gross 84.9%, net 23.2%, each moving under a point from the prior quarter). The 7.5% implied move is more than three times Cadence’s own 2.2% average swing, rich even against a perfect eight-for-eight beat streak and a 2.66% beat last quarter — a bar that will be hard to clear cleanly. Read-across extends to Synopsys and the broader semiconductor-capex group on whether AI chip-design spend is still accelerating.

Oneok’s quarter tests whether the volume growth from its recent midstream acquisitions is reaching the bottom line: revenue consensus of $10.39B is up 20.3% YoY, yet EPS consensus of $1.50 is up just 0.7% YoY, with gross margin down 2.7 points to 20.1% last quarter — a combination that points to lower-margin acquired volumes and integration costs diluting an otherwise-growing top line, with the added leverage from recent deal-making a swing factor if financing costs stay elevated. Management raised full-year EPS guidance over the summer, a sign it is comfortable with the trajectory even as the quarterly margin trend lags revenue. Oneok has no weekly options; the nearest expiry is the November monthly, so the 6.9% straddle spans roughly three and a half weeks rather than the print alone, against a 0.9% average one-day move and a 62% beat rate. Read-across extends to the broader NGL and midstream group on whether volume growth is translating into margin or simply diluting it.

Nucor’s headline year-on-year EPS comparison is arithmetically dramatic but flattered by an unusually weak base: EPS consensus of $5.83 is up 121.7% YoY against a Q3 2025 print of $2.63 that marked a cyclical trough, when margin compression from higher costs and softer volumes coincided with tariff-driven uncertainty across the steel complex. That base has since reversed — Section 232 tariffs have cut import competition sharply and hot-rolled coil pricing has recovered into the $1,200–$1,300/ton range — and this quarter is a test of how durable that recovery is; management’s own guidance for the quarter, issued over the summer, landed below Street expectations at the time, a caution flag peer Steel Dynamics also raised with its own guide. Revenue consensus of $10.79B (up 26.6% YoY) and improving margins (gross up 3.8 points to 19.6%, net up 3.3 points to 11.1%) suggest the recovery is intact for now. The 9.4% implied move, pricing the November monthly roughly three and a half weeks out rather than the print itself, compares with a 1.2% average one-day move and an 88% beat rate. Read-across extends to Steel Dynamics and U.S. Steel on tariff durability and pricing discipline across the group.

Public Storage’s quarter is arguably the toughest occupancy test the self-storage REIT has faced since its $10.5B acquisition of National Storage Affiliates and its pending purchase of Public Storage Canada: revenue consensus of $1.31B is up 6.8% YoY even as EPS consensus of $2.29 is down 12.6% YoY — a divergence that reads as deal-related financing and integration cost rather than a weakening core business, with net margin down 2.7 points to 40.5% last quarter against an essentially flat 72.1% gross margin. Coverage here is thin (just four estimates) and the EPS range is wide ($1.90–$2.69), underscoring how much deal accounting could swing the print either way. The 5.2% implied move, priced off the November monthly rather than the print itself, compares with a 1.3% average one-day move and a 62% beat rate, with a 2.93% miss last time out. Read-across extends to the rest of the self-storage group on whether demand and street rates are holding up against a soft housing-turnover backdrop.

Hartford’s setup carries the soft-pricing story that has built through 2026: commercial margins have been narrowing as large-account pricing softens, catastrophe losses ran above year-ago levels last quarter, and favorable prior-year reserve development shrank sharply — the backdrop behind EPS consensus of $3.17, down 16.1% YoY against a strong $3.78 year-ago base. That decline sits oddly against Hartford’s own trailing EPS growth, which has run at a 28.5% annualized clip over one year and better than 22% over five — a reminder this quarter’s setup is about catastrophe timing and pricing cycle, not a structural reversal. Net margin improved 6.2 points to 18.2% last quarter (gross margin isn’t a meaningful metric for an insurer). The 5.6% implied move, pricing the November monthly rather than the print, compares with a 0.9% average move and a 75% beat rate, with an 8.93% beat last time out. Read-across extends to the rest of the commercial P&C group on whether pricing discipline holds as competition increases at the top end of the market.

Cincinnati Financial’s setup turns as much on its unusually large, mark-to-market equity portfolio as on underwriting: the insurer carries far more public-equity exposure than most P&C peers, so swings in realized and unrealized investment gains move its GAAP EPS more than premium growth or loss ratios do, and that volatility is the likeliest explanation for a steep year-on-year comparison — EPS consensus of $2.11 is down 26.0% against a $2.85 year-ago quarter, with revenue consensus of $3.03B down 18.7% YoY on the same basis. Catastrophe losses and competitive pressure in commercial auto and California personal lines are the underwriting-side swing factors management has flagged. Net margin fell 12.3 points to 9.6% last quarter (gross margin isn’t meaningful for an insurer). The 6.7% implied move, pricing the November monthly rather than the print, compares with a 1.2% average move and an 88% beat rate, though last quarter’s print missed by 21.3%. Read-across extends to the broader commercial-lines insurance group, including Hartford’s own print today, on catastrophe-loss trends this quarter.

Also reporting today

Three more S&P 500 names round out the day, all after the close: Brown & Brown, Principal Financial and Alexandria Real Estate Equities. Alexandria’s consensus implies a swing to essentially breakeven EPS, a comparison the data flags against an outsized year-ago quarter, while Brown & Brown and Principal Financial both show high-single-to-low-double-digit revenue growth YoY.

Scorecard — reported since we last wrote

Two names have scored since Friday’s edition, and both complicate the read on this corner of the market. American Express beat EPS by 20.4% — reported EPS up 30.9% YoY — with revenue landing in line with consensus, yet the stock still sold off 3.7% in the regular session, a reminder that a clean beat doesn’t guarantee a positive reaction when the market is weighing something else. Schlumberger beat on both lines (EPS +4.9%, revenue +2.0%) and rallied 7.1%, even though reported EPS remained down 7.2% YoY against a still-recovering oilfield-services base — a case where the surprise, not the year-on-year comparison, set the tone.

Rest of the week

The week steps up sharply from here. Tuesday brings Visa and Coca-Cola, Wednesday is dominated by Alphabet and Microsoft after the close alongside a cluster of AI-infrastructure names (GE Vernova, KLA, Vertiv), and Thursday is the heaviest day of the week by far with Amazon headlining alongside Eli Lilly, Mastercard, Intel and Caterpillar. The week closes Friday with the energy majors Exxon Mobil and Chevron, both still measured against a deeply depressed year-ago base, alongside AbbVie and Regeneron in healthcare.

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