At a glance: 41 S&P 500 names report today — headlined by McDonald’s, Qualcomm and Uber, with CVS Health, McKesson, Emerson Electric, AppLovin and Motorola Solutions also on the docket (McDonald’s, Uber, CVS and Emerson before the open; the rest after the close).

Reported EPS for seven names in today’s scorecard reflects the earnings calendar’s headline figure rather than a basis confirmed comparable to consensus, so no year-on-year comparison is shown for those names.

The tape ahead

McDonald's reports before the open, and the debate is whether its value-menu push — discounted combo meals, a beverage platform management says is running ahead of plan, and renewed loyalty-member promotions — can reaccelerate US same-store sales after they cooled through the summer. Consensus EPS of $3.38 implies growth of just 5.0% YoY, with revenue consensus of $7.28B implying 2.9% YoY growth, both well below the chain's own 3-year and 5-year EPS CAGRs of roughly 13-14%, so the Street is pricing a continuation of this year's slower pace rather than a snapback. Margins have moved the other way: gross margin up 2.1 points to 58.0% and net margin up 2.8 points to 33.3% in the last reported quarter, evidence that cost discipline is still supporting the bottom line even as traffic growth lags. The 3.5% implied move sits modestly above McDonald's own 2.0% realized-move average, against a comparatively soft 62% beat rate over the last eight quarters and a narrow 1.8% surprise last time out, so the options market isn't pricing much drama either way. Read-across extends to the rest of the value-focused quick-service complex, where McDonald's commentary on traffic and the beverage platform will be read against Yum Brands' beat in yesterday's scorecard.

Qualcomm reports after the close, and the debate has shifted almost entirely to how fast Apple's in-house modem is displacing QCT handset revenue — management has said the decline accelerates this quarter as Apple's own modem ramps faster than Qualcomm had planned for. Consensus EPS of $2.16 implies a 28.0% decline YoY, with revenue consensus of $10.15B implying a 10.0% YoY decline, both a direct read on how much of the Apple business has already rolled off rather than any broader demand problem — automotive and IoT, where Qualcomm has guided non-handset growth to eventually replace all Apple-related revenue, are the offset to watch. The net margin line in the last reported quarter looks alarming at first glance — down 49.4 points to 20.1% — but that drop is almost entirely the fading of a one-time tax-related benefit that had inflated the prior quarter's margin, not fresh deterioration. The 8.9% implied move is more than three times Qualcomm's own 2.8% realized-move average, against an 88% beat rate but a small 0.7% miss last time out — a richer-than-usual straddle that says the market still sees the Apple transition as binary event risk even though the dollar amounts are largely known. Read-across is direct: Skyworks, also exposed to Apple's supply chain, fell 17.4% after its own in-line print in yesterday's scorecard, and today's print will be read as the next data point on how completely Apple is exiting third-party modems.

Uber reports before the open, and the setup is dominated by robotaxi anxiety — Waymo's publicly stated plan to roughly quadruple its robotaxi fleet by the end of 2027 has pressured the stock toward a 52-week low into this print — against a backdrop of still-strong underlying demand and the pending Delivery Hero acquisition. The headline EPS comparison is misleading on its face: consensus of $0.90 implies a 71.1% decline YoY, but last year's $3.11 print was inflated by a one-time $4.9 billion tax-valuation release plus mark-to-market gains on Uber's Didi and Grab stakes, none of which has anything to do with ride-hailing or delivery economics. Revenue consensus of $14.67B, implying 9.0% YoY growth, is the far cleaner read on the business, and it comes against Mobility growth that only recently reaccelerated and Delivery growth still running near 28%. The 7.3% implied move is roughly 1.5 times Uber's own 4.9% realized-move average, against a 75% beat rate and a 40.2% surprise last time out — a notably strong recent beat record for a name whose options market is still pricing real uncertainty. Read-across extends to Lyft and DoorDash on the demand side, and to the broader autonomous-vehicle investment theme, where Uber's own robotaxi partnership commentary will be parsed closely.

CVS reports before the open, and the key swing factor is whether Aetna's Medicare Advantage margin recovery — a medical benefit ratio that improved sharply earlier this year — held through a seasonally tougher third quarter, alongside early signs from the Oak Street Health strategy shift and the company's exit from the individual ACA exchange business. Consensus EPS of $1.65 implies just 3.1% growth YoY, with revenue consensus of $104.69B implying 1.8% YoY growth — modest next to a year in which CVS has already raised full-year guidance twice. Margins in the last reported quarter ticked down slightly, gross margin off 0.7 points to 14.8% and net margin off 0.1 points to 2.8%, a reminder of how thin the margin structure is in this business even when the insurance recovery story is working. The 6.8% implied move sits above CVS's own 5.7% realized-move average, against an excellent 88% beat rate over the last eight quarters and a 39.4% surprise last time — a rich straddle, but one earned by a genuinely volatile recent history. Read-across matters for the rest of managed care reporting this quarter, where Aetna's margin trajectory is being watched as a read on whether the industry-wide Medicare Advantage repricing is actually working.

McKesson reports after the close, and the quarter is a test of whether specialty and oncology distribution growth plus an aggressive buyback program can keep extending a 13%-to-16% long-term adjusted EPS growth target the company has reaffirmed. Consensus EPS of $10.75 implies 9.0% growth YoY, with revenue consensus of $109.95B implying 6.6% YoY growth — solid, but a clear deceleration from the 49.2% EPS growth McKesson posted over the trailing year. Margins are structurally thin in drug distribution, and the last reported quarter's gross margin of 3.5% (down 0.7 points) and net margin of 0.58% (down 1.2 points) show a touch of compression even as the dollar profit base keeps growing. The 7.75% implied move prices the November monthly expiry 16 days out rather than the print alone, so it isn't a clean read on event risk — McKesson's 100% beat rate over the last eight quarters is the more useful gauge of what to expect tonight. Read-across is direct: Cencora reports its own results this morning, and peer commentary on US drug-distribution volumes will frame how McKesson's own numbers are read.

Emerson reports before the open, and the quarter doubles as an early look at how the newly-completed buyout of AspenTech is being integrated, with data-center and process-automation capex spending the demand backdrop to watch. Consensus EPS of $1.85 implies growth of 14.2% YoY, with revenue consensus of $5.12B implying 5.4% YoY growth — both ahead of Emerson's muted 5-year and 10-year EPS CAGRs, which reflect years of portfolio reshaping around the software push. Margins were essentially flat in the last reported quarter, gross margin down 0.1 points to 53.1% and net margin down 0.4 points to 13.6%, suggesting the integration hasn't yet shown up as a drag or a lift. The 5.5% implied move is about 1.6 times Emerson's own 3.4% realized-move average, against a perfect eight-for-eight beat record, so the options market is pricing a touch more event risk than the stock's history would suggest. Read-across is immediate after Eaton's 7.0% pop yesterday on its own data-center-driven beat — Emerson's print will be read as the next confirmation, or contradiction, of the same electrification demand story.

AppLovin reports after the close, and the setup is still shadowed by short-seller scrutiny of the AXON 2.0 ad-targeting engine and whether its measurement and attribution practices hold up to outside audit, even as the underlying ad business keeps compounding at triple-digit rates. Consensus EPS of $4.03 implies growth of 64.5% YoY, with revenue consensus of $2.07B implying 47.6% YoY growth — both still torrid, though a step down from the 114.6% EPS growth logged over the trailing year. Margins remain exceptional for the sector: gross margin of 88.3% (down 0.7 points) and net margin of 65.8% (up 0.4 points) in the last reported quarter. The 17.7% implied move is nearly ten times AppLovin's own 1.8% realized-move average — the richest straddle on today's docket relative to history by a wide margin — a legacy of the prior quarter's post-earnings drop on model-performance concerns rather than a sign this print carries unusually binary risk. Read-across extends to the broader mobile-gaming and performance-advertising complex, where AppLovin's commentary on its push into e-commerce advertising beyond gaming will be watched closely.

Motorola Solutions reports after the close, with the central question whether record public-safety backlog — and an Avigilon video-security business management says is growing roughly four times faster than the company average — keeps converting into revenue at the pace the Street has priced in. Consensus EPS of $4.43 implies growth of 9.1% YoY, with revenue consensus of $3.28B implying 9.0% YoY growth, both solid but modest next to the 38.0% EPS growth the company has posted over the trailing year. Margins have moved firmly in the right direction: gross margin up 3.4 points to 53.6% and net margin up 4.3 points to 17.8% in the last reported quarter, a sign tariff-related cost pressure flagged earlier this year is being absorbed rather than passed through to the bottom line. The 6.3% implied move prices the November monthly expiry 16 days out rather than the print alone, so it isn't a clean read on event risk; Motorola's perfect eight-for-eight beat record and a strong 14.5% surprise last time are the more useful guide. Read-across extends to the broader public-safety and video-security complex, where backlog conversion trends are being watched as a bellwether for government and enterprise security capex heading into next year.

Also reporting today

Datadog, Coherent and TKO Group carry some of today's strongest consensus growth outside the marquee list — EPS up 16.4%, 69.8% and more than doubling YoY, respectively — while Cencora's print this morning is a direct read-across for McKesson tonight. Allstate, Kraft Heinz, PTC and Eversource Energy are among the names where consensus points to a year-on-year decline.

Scorecard — reported since we last wrote

Every name but two beat or came in line on EPS today, and the stock reactions make clear the market is pricing something beyond the raw surprise. AMD's 7.7% EPS beat and Arista's 11.1% beat — both previewed yesterday as the clearest read on AI-infrastructure capex — drove after-hours gains of 5.0% and 9.5% respectively, vindicating the rich straddles priced into both. Three names show the opposite pattern: Skyworks came in exactly in line on EPS yet fell 17.4% after hours, Gartner beat EPS by 26.4% and still sold off 13.2%, and Sysco printed in line on EPS but missed on revenue and dropped 9.3% — a reminder that an in-line or even a beaten number says nothing about how a stock trades on the day. Marathon Petroleum's EPS beat consensus by just 3.6%, even though reported EPS were up 794.7% from a year-ago quarter the table already flags as a low base — the stock barely moved, down 0.7%, which is the more honest read than either number alone; DuPont beat by 11.2% and rallied 8.6% despite EPS down 36.1% YoY from the year-ago print, underscoring that the beat label, not the year-on-year direction, is what the tape traded. Apollo missed EPS by 5.9% and fell 5.0%, while Prudential beat EPS by 13.6% but missed on revenue and still saw EPS shrink 11.5% YoY — a beat and a year-on-year decline coexisting in the same print. Fiserv's modest 2.3% EPS beat produced the single biggest percentage mover of the batch, up 12.5%, while Super Micro's 47.2% EPS surprise — also flagged against a low year-ago base — added another 7.0% after hours.

Rest of the week

Thursday is the week's heaviest remaining day with 38 S&P reporters, led by ConocoPhillips and Parker Hannifin — the only two carrying a priced implied move, at 4.2% and 8.1% (the latter pricing the November monthly expiry, 15 days out, rather than the print alone) — alongside Airbnb, Cummins (where consensus implies EPS more than doubling YoY) and EOG Resources. Friday thins out sharply to just six names: Moderna and Humana are the only two carrying an implied move, and Humana's consensus has swung to a loss, so its scheduled print is one to watch rather than one to model precisely.

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