Earnings Roundup: Which Big Companies Beat or Missed This Week

October 28, 2026 | ATN Trade & Finance

A busy stretch of Q3 2026 earnings reports this week produced sharp splits between winners and losers. Alphabet disappointed on Search and overall revenue but delivered a standout quarter for Google Cloud. Boeing's narrow loss shrank dramatically from a year ago, but its forward cash flow guidance spooked investors. Meta's numbers looked mixed on the surface due to a massive legal charge, but the core advertising business remained strong. Here is the full picture from the week's major releases.

Alphabet: Cloud Surges, Core Ads and EPS Disappoint

Alphabet reported Q3 2026 results after the close on October 28. Total revenue came in at $127.58 billion — up 25% year over year — but narrowly missed the analyst consensus of $127.93 billion. EPS of $2.12 also came in below the roughly $3.00 consensus. The headline misses were in the advertising businesses: Google Search revenue was $63.35 billion against a $64.85 billion estimate, YouTube ad revenue was $11.21 billion against $11.43 billion expected, and Google Services overall was $96.30 billion, short of the $98.4 billion estimate. Operating income was $40.58 billion, also below the $43.16 billion expected. AI capital expenditure was $51.36 billion for the quarter — significant, but below the $55.78 billion Wall Street had modeled. Alphabet shares fell approximately 7% in after-hours trading on the results.

The standout was Google Cloud, which posted revenue of $30.71 billion — roughly doubling from $15.16 billion a year earlier and beating the $29.1 billion consensus by about $1.6 billion. CEO Sundar Pichai attributed the growth to "huge demand for our AI infrastructure and AI solutions," and noted that first-party model APIs are now processing nearly 32 billion tokens per minute, more than four times the year-ago rate. The Gemini app crossed one billion users. The quarterly story is a tale of two Alphabets: the traditional ads business is under pressure, while the cloud and AI infrastructure business is growing at a pace that complicates simple beat-or-miss assessments.

Boeing: Revenue Beat, But Cash Flow Outlook Crushes Stock

Boeing reported Q3 2026 results on October 27. Revenue came in at $24.19 billion, up 4% from $23.27 billion a year earlier and ahead of the LSEG consensus of $23.84 billion. The GAAP net loss narrowed dramatically to $116 million ($0.26 per share) from a $5.3 billion loss ($7.14 per share) in Q3 2025. Adjusted EPS was a loss of $0.34 per share, which missed the $0.21 consensus estimate. Free cash flow of $464 million beat the FactSet estimate of $330 million.

The quarter had operational milestones: 737-7 certification was completed during Q3, 737-10 was certified in October, and the company announced selection of its next-generation fighter jet by the US Navy. Total commercial deliveries were 161 aircraft, essentially flat with 160 a year earlier. However, Boeing's 737 production rate target of 47 per month has slipped into early 2027, and the company's 2027 free cash flow outlook of roughly $3 billion fell well short of Wall Street projections of $5.5 billion to $5.7 billion. That gap sent shares down 9.6% to $170.23 on October 27. CEO Kelly Ortberg said the company "remains focused on safety and quality" while pressing on execution improvement, but the slower-than-expected cash recovery is the headline. Boeing's backlog reached a record $745 billion, including more than 6,300 commercial airplanes — a sign of long-term demand, even as near-term execution challenges persist.

Meta: Core Ads Strong, Operating Income Hit by $9.9 Billion Legal Charge

Meta reported Q3 2026 results on October 21. Total revenue was $64.60 billion, above the $63.38 billion consensus. Advertising revenue was approximately $63.1 billion, beating the $61.9 billion estimate. EPS on a reported basis was $3.83, beating the $3.57 consensus but well below some whisper numbers that did not account for the quarter's legal charge: Meta booked $9.89 billion of a $16.7 billion social media addiction lawsuit settlement this quarter. That charge dragged reported operating income to approximately $13 billion, against an estimated $20.9 billion — a significant miss on the operating line that is entirely explained by the one-time legal item. Excluding it, the core business performed well. Meta's stock was up on the day of the report.

The forward picture carries two offsetting elements. Q4 revenue guidance of $73 billion to $76 billion was roughly in line with consensus at the midpoint. But full-year expense guidance rose to $175 billion to $179 billion from the prior $165 billion to $169 billion — an increase driven by the legal settlement and higher AI infrastructure costs. Full-year capital expenditure guidance was narrowed to $135 billion to $145 billion, with the low end raised from $130 billion. Meta also announced the creation of a new non-voting Class C share class. Reality Labs revenue was approximately $440 million, short of the $518 million estimate, with an operating loss of roughly $4.1 billion.

Consumer Durables: Whirlpool and Sherwin-Williams Both Miss

Among consumer-facing companies, the week brought two notable disappointments. Whirlpool reported a double miss — both revenue and EPS below estimates — with weak forward guidance, and the stock fell approximately 8%. Sherwin-Williams posted EPS of $3.63, narrowly missing the consensus by $0.06, with the stock falling roughly 6%. Both results signal continued pressure on big-ticket consumer spending and residential construction-linked demand. For trade professionals, paint and appliance demand tracks closely with housing activity, and the weakness here adds to a broader picture of slowing consumer durables imports heading into year-end.

Bright Spots: HCA Healthcare, SoFi, Freeport, Coca-Cola

The beats were concentrated in healthcare, financials, and commodities. HCA Healthcare posted EPS of $7.22, beating the consensus by $0.57, on revenue of approximately $19 billion — a double beat with raised full-year guidance. Freeport-McMoRan reported EPS of $0.88, beating by $0.08, with a double beat on revenue — a copper demand signal relevant for manufacturers sourcing from Latin American supply chains. SoFi Technologies beat on both revenue and EPS ($0.18 vs. $0.17 consensus), raised full-year guidance, and rose 6%. Coca-Cola delivered a double beat. HSBC, however, was the outlier in financials: the ADR missed consensus by $1.79, fell to a six-month low, and was one of the cleaner double misses of the week.

What this means: This week's earnings season snapshot offers a consistent signal for trade and supply chain professionals: AI-linked infrastructure demand is the strongest growth vector in corporate America right now — visible in Google Cloud's near-doubling and Meta's rising AI capex commitments — while traditional advertising, big-ticket consumer goods, and industrial throughput are softer. Boeing's narrowing losses and record backlog are genuine progress, but the cash flow timeline delay illustrates how long the aerospace supply chain recovery will take to translate into financial performance. Companies with direct exposure to construction, housing, or consumer discretionary spending — appliances, paint, flooring — are signaling caution heading into 2027, which in turn signals softer import volumes in those categories.

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Earnings Roundup: Which Big Companies Beat or Missed This Week

Earnings Roundup: Which Big Companies Beat or Missed This Week

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