Q2 Earnings Season Splits Between AI Infrastructure Winners, GLP-1 and Consumer Setbacks

실적/어닝스 | Wed Aug 05 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) | 16 sources

Q2 2026 earnings showed AI-driven gains at SpaceX, AMD, and Caterpillar contrasting with weakness at Novo Nordisk, Lucid, and McDonald's.

Analysis

[SpaceX] beat revenue consensus in first post-IPO earnings but shares fell on expanded AI investment ^[1]^[2]^[5]^[10]

Quarterly revenue exceeded market expectations and nearly doubled year-over-year
Declared exclusive adoption of Nvidia Vera Rubin processors
expanding AI infrastructure investment
Ad revenue fell 14% to $367 million amid X Ads Manager transition
Targeting Starlink Mobile standalone service launch by end of 2027

[AMD] beat consensus with doubled data center revenue but fell after-hours on guidance shortfall ^[6]

Q2 revenue grew 50% year-over-year to $11.54 billion
exceeding consensus
Data Center segment revenue surged 107% to $6.7 billion
Q3 guidance of $13 billion fell short of some analysts' $14 billion expectations
Helios rack systems shipping to Meta
OpenAI
and Oracle with expanded rollout from Q4

[Caterpillar] raised 2026 revenue growth outlook driven by surging AI data center demand ^[16]

Q2 revenue rose 24% to $20.54 billion
adjusted EPS of $8.17 far exceeded $6.20 consensus
Core construction segment revenue grew 35%
with North America surging 50%
Backlog expanded to $72.1 billion
Shares surged 12% for the largest single-day gain in 17 years

[Pinterest] surpassed 640 million MAUs and beat earnings but shares fell on soft Q3 guidance ^[3]^[7]

Q2 revenue grew 18% year-over-year to $1.18 billion
MAUs reached 640 million
Q3 revenue guidance of $1.19-1.21 billion in line with consensus
Q3 advertising headwinds from World Cup ending and Amazon Prime Day timing shift
Raised 2026 adjusted EBITDA margin outlook to approximately 30%

[Novo Nordisk] raised guidance but shares fell 6% on U.S. GLP-1 prescription slowdown concerns ^[11]

2026 adjusted revenue outlook raised to -6% to flat
adjusted operating profit outlook also raised
U.S. revenue decline expected amid fallout from Trump's MFN drug pricing agreement
Wegovy pill revenue of DKK 3.22 billion slightly missed expectations
Q2 revenue of DKK 78.49 billion ($12.09 billion)
up 3% at constant currency

[McDonald's·Lucid·Wayfair] showed sharp divergence in consumer and EV results with Wayfair up 30%, McDonald's U.S. weak, Lucid midsize car delayed ^[8]^[9]^[12]^[13]

Wayfair U.S. revenue grew 8.7%
strongest since 2020
shares up 30%
McDonald's U.S. same-store sales grew just 0.8%
prompting appointment of new U.S. president
Lucid delayed midsize car launch to second half of 2027
plans $1.4 billion cash flow improvement
Paramount Skydance raised annual EBITDA guidance on streaming strength

[Pfizer·Merck·Vertex] raised revenue guidance on new drugs and M&A but faced one-time acquisition charges ^[4]^[14]^[15]

Pfizer raised low end of annual revenue outlook
Eliquis sales grew 19% to $2.43 billion
Merck raised 2026 revenue outlook to $66.3-67.3 billion
reflecting $5.7 billion Terns acquisition charge
Vertex Q2 revenue grew 12% to $3.33 billion
annual guidance raised to $13.1-13.2 billion
Vertex secured fifth therapeutic area via Crinetics acquisition (EV $8.8 billion)

Q2 Earnings Season Splits Between AI Infrastructure Winners, GLP-1 and Consumer Setbacks

Analysis

Sources