Shopify, Eli Lilly, Disney, Glencore and Siemens Energy delivered some of the strongest corporate updates on Wednesday. AMD reported rapid AI-driven growth but failed to meet elevated investor expectations, while Novo Nordisk fell despite raising its full-year forecasts.

By FinanceMarkets.info — August 5, 2026

The latest company earnings produced substantial market moves on Wednesday, with investors rewarding businesses that combined strong quarterly figures with upgraded forecasts.

Shopify shares surged after the e-commerce group predicted faster-than-expected growth. Eli Lilly advanced as demand for its obesity and diabetes treatments continued to exceed expectations, while Glencore benefited from exceptional energy-trading profits.

Disney reported stronger earnings and growth across streaming, merchandise and theme parks. Siemens Energy also delivered record quarterly figures as electricity demand from data centres and infrastructure projects strengthened its order book.

The results were not uniformly positive. AMD’s quarterly revenue increased 50%, but its shares fell because the company’s outlook did not exceed already demanding AI expectations by a sufficient margin. Novo Nordisk declined as investors focused on product-pipeline concerns instead of its upgraded annual guidance.

Earnings-season snapshot

Company	Key development	Initial share reaction
Shopify	Revenue up 34%; strong third-quarter forecast	Around +26%
Eli Lilly	Raises annual revenue forecast	Around +5%
Arista Networks	Revenue exceeds $3bn; outlook raised	Around +13%
Next	Raises profit guidance for third time	Around +7%
Glencore	First-half EBITDA up 86%	Around +3%
Siemens Energy	Record orders, revenue and profitability	Higher
Disney	Earnings beat; revenue slightly below forecasts	Higher
Thomson Reuters	Revenue up 9%; annual forecast raised	Positive
Kraft Heinz	Raises annual forecasts	Moderately positive
BorgWarner	Profit and revenue beat estimates	Around +2%
AMD	Strong results but expectations were higher	Around -9%
Novo Nordisk	Guidance raised, pipeline concerns persist	Around -4% to -6%
SpaceX	Revenue growth offset by spending concerns	Around -10% to -12%

Share-price movements refer to early, premarket or after-hours trading and may change during the regular session.

Shopify soars as AI strategy accelerates growth

Shopify delivered one of the earnings season’s strongest positive surprises.

Second-quarter revenue increased 34% from a year earlier to $3.58 billion, exceeding analysts’ expectations. Gross merchandise volume—the total value of transactions processed through Shopify’s platform—rose 32% to $115.57 billion.

The Canadian e-commerce company expects third-quarter revenue to increase at a low-30% rate. Analysts had anticipated growth of approximately 26.3%.

Shopify also forecast gross-profit growth in the mid-to-high 20% range.

Its US-listed shares surged approximately 26% in premarket trading.

AI becomes a commercial advantage

The results reduced concerns that generative artificial intelligence could weaken Shopify’s position by allowing retailers to create websites and commerce tools independently.

Instead, Shopify is incorporating AI across its platform. The company’s Sidekick assistant helps merchants analyse data, automate tasks and improve their stores.

Partnerships with OpenAI, Google and Microsoft are also intended to make Shopify merchants more visible within AI-powered search and shopping services.

Small and medium-sized companies appear particularly interested in AI tools that can reduce costs without requiring additional employees.

The quarterly figures also suggested that consumer demand remained resilient despite geopolitical uncertainty and earlier increases in fuel prices.

Eli Lilly raises revenue forecast

Eli Lilly raised its full-year revenue expectations as demand for its GLP-1 diabetes and obesity drugs continued to grow rapidly.

Sales of Mounjaro increased 91% to $9.94 billion, while Zepbound generated $4.93 billion. Together, the two treatments represented almost 65% of the company’s quarterly revenue.

Adjusted earnings reached $8.38 per share, substantially exceeding the $6.01 expected by analysts.

Lilly now expects 2026 revenue of between $85 billion and $87 billion, compared with its previous forecast of $82 billion to $85 billion.

Its shares gained approximately 5% before the US market opened.

Obesity-drug competition intensifies

Lilly remains one of the principal beneficiaries of the rapidly expanding obesity-treatment market.

The global market was estimated at approximately $66 billion in 2025, while some analysts expect US sales alone to exceed $100 billion by 2030.

The company faces growing competition from Novo Nordisk and other pharmaceutical groups developing oral and injectable treatments.

Lilly’s own new obesity pill, Foundayo, generated $98 million during the quarter, slightly below expectations. However, investors focused primarily on the extraordinary commercial performance of Mounjaro and Zepbound.

Pricing pressure reduced part of the benefit from higher volumes, and Lilly slightly lowered the upper end of its profit forecast because of business-related charges.

Novo Nordisk falls despite guidance upgrade

Novo Nordisk produced a sharply different market reaction.

The Danish pharmaceutical group raised its annual sales and operating-profit forecasts, but its shares declined approximately 4%–6%.

Investors focused on weaker-than-expected sales of the oral version of Wegovy and concerns surrounding the company’s future product pipeline.

Clinical setbacks affecting CagriSema, its next-generation obesity treatment, have raised questions about whether Novo can maintain rapid growth as competition intensifies.

The group must also prepare for future patent expirations affecting semaglutide, the active ingredient used in Wegovy and Ozempic.

Novo Nordisk’s results demonstrate an important feature of earnings season: raising guidance is not always sufficient when investors are more concerned about a company’s long-term competitive position.

Disney earnings beat expectations

Disney reported adjusted earnings of $2.06 per share, exceeding market forecasts.

Quarterly revenue increased 7% to $25.2 billion, although the figure was slightly below analysts’ estimates.

The company benefited from the commercial success of “Toy Story 5,” which supported cinema revenue, merchandise sales and engagement on Disney+.

The Entertainment division generated approximately $11.3 billion in revenue, while operating income jumped 64%. Higher streaming prices also contributed to improved profitability.

Parks approach $10 billion in quarterly revenue

Disney’s Parks and Experiences division generated close to $10 billion of revenue, an increase of approximately 10%.

Operating income climbed 20% to around $3 billion. The division benefited from attendance, consumer spending and a tariff refund worth approximately $100 million.

The Sports division was less impressive. Operating income declined 17% to $858 million, partly because of the structure and timing of NBA playoff broadcasts.

Disney expects approximately $4.9 billion in segment operating income during its fiscal fourth quarter.

The company also announced the $1.2 billion sale of its stake in A+E Global Media to Hearst. It intends to use the proceeds to support share repurchases, which are expected to total at least $9 billion during fiscal 2026.

AMD delivers strong growth—but shares fall

AMD reported excellent headline figures, but they were not sufficient to satisfy investors following the stock’s previous rally.

Quarterly revenue increased 50% to a record $11.54 billion. Adjusted earnings reached approximately $1.66 per share.

Data-centre revenue more than doubled to $6.72 billion, representing approximately 58% of total sales. Demand for AI accelerators, server processors and related infrastructure drove the increase.

AMD forecast third-quarter revenue of around $13 billion, plus or minus $300 million. Analysts had expected approximately $12.52 billion.

The company expects an adjusted gross margin of around 56%.

Despite exceeding consensus forecasts, AMD shares dropped almost 9% in after-hours trading.

Expectations are becoming difficult to exceed

AMD is increasingly positioned as Nvidia’s principal competitor in advanced AI accelerators.

The company is developing complete computing systems combining GPUs, server processors and networking products. It also expects data-centre revenue to more than double again in 2027.

However, the share price had already incorporated substantial expectations for rapid growth. Investors were therefore looking for a forecast significantly above consensus rather than a conventional earnings beat.

Gaming revenue also declined 31% to $779 million amid component shortages, higher prices and weaker console-related sales.

The market reaction illustrates the risk facing AI stocks: strong growth may no longer be enough when valuations assume exceptional performance.

Arista Networks exceeds $3 billion in revenue

Arista Networks was another major technology winner.

Second-quarter revenue reached $3.04 billion, exceeding the consensus forecast of approximately $2.83 billion. It marked the first time the networking-equipment company generated more than $3 billion in quarterly sales.

Revenue increased 37.7% from the previous year.

Adjusted earnings reached $1.02 per share, compared with an analyst forecast of approximately $0.88. Adjusted operating margin improved to 49.9%.

The company also increased its full-year guidance as cloud companies and data-centre operators invested in high-speed networking infrastructure.

Arista shares gained more than 13%.

Its performance reinforces the view that the AI investment cycle extends beyond chipmakers. Data centres also require switches, optical networking, cooling systems, electricity equipment and specialised software.

Glencore earnings jump 86%

Glencore reported adjusted first-half EBITDA of $10.1 billion, an increase of 86% and ahead of analysts’ expectations of approximately $9.5 billion.

The group’s commodity-trading division benefited from extreme volatility in oil, natural gas and fuel markets during the Iran conflict.

Marketing adjusted EBIT increased 142% to $3.3 billion. Within that division, energy-trading profit surged to $2.66 billion from only $40 million a year earlier.

Glencore’s industrial operations generated approximately $6.5 billion in EBITDA, an increase of 72%.

Its shares gained more than 3%.

Additional shareholder returns

Glencore announced a $1 billion special dividend and a new $500 million share-repurchase programme.

Total shareholder returns announced for 2026 have now reached approximately $3.5 billion.

The group also plans to seek a secondary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange, potentially beginning in October. The additional listing is intended to broaden its investor base while retaining London as its primary market.

Glencore expects full-year adjusted EBITDA of approximately $19.7 billion.

Siemens Energy reports record quarter

Siemens Energy announced record orders, revenue and profitability for its fiscal third quarter.

Profit before special items more than tripled to €1.62 billion, compared with €497 million a year earlier.

Net income increased to €1.19 billion from €697 million, while pre-tax free cash flow rose to €2.32 billion.

The company benefited from rising demand for electricity-generation equipment, power-grid infrastructure and data-centre capacity.

Siemens Gamesa reported a positive quarterly result for the first time since fiscal 2022, strengthening expectations that the wind-power business is progressing towards break-even.

Siemens Energy maintained its upgraded annual targets and expects its operating margin to finish near the upper end of the forecast range.

Thomson Reuters raises full-year guidance

Thomson Reuters reported a 9% increase in quarterly revenue to $1.95 billion, slightly above market expectations of approximately $1.9 billion.

Adjusted earnings reached 99 cents per share, compared with an analyst forecast of 96 cents.

Growth was led by the company’s three largest professional-information divisions:

• Legal Professionals revenue increased approximately 10%.
• Tax and Accounting revenue grew around 14%.
• Corporates revenue rose approximately 12%.

The company raised its full-year organic revenue-growth forecast to approximately 8%, from a previous range of 7.5%–8%.

Thomson Reuters is investing heavily in professional artificial intelligence, including the integration of Anthropic’s Claude technology into its CoCounsel platform.

Unlike general-purpose consumer chatbots, the company is positioning its tools around verifiable legal, tax and financial sources.

Kraft Heinz raises forecasts

Kraft Heinz increased its annual sales and earnings forecasts after quarterly revenue exceeded expectations.

Sales declined 1.4% to $6.26 billion, but analysts had anticipated a considerably steeper fall.

Adjusted earnings reached 56 cents per share, above the consensus forecast of 53 cents.

The company now expects organic sales to decline between 0.5% and 2%, an improvement from its previous forecast. Adjusted annual earnings are expected to range between $2.03 and $2.09 per share.

New CEO Steve Cahillane is increasing investment in advertising, innovation, protein-rich products and electrolyte beverages.

Kraft Heinz plans an additional $100 million of expenditure, taking its total 2026 investment programme to approximately $700 million.

Volumes remained weak in North America, particularly in US retail meat products. A $7.4 billion non-cash impairment also contributed to a reported operating loss.

Next raises guidance for the third time

British clothing retailer Next raised its annual profit forecast for the third time in 2026.

Second-quarter full-price sales increased 9.2%, outperforming expectations by approximately £70 million.

International markets accounted for £51 million of the positive difference, while the UK contributed £19 million. Warm weather and stronger demand in the Middle East and northern Europe supported sales.

Next now expects pre-tax profit of £1.243 billion for the financial year ending January 2027, compared with its previous forecast of £1.218 billion.

Its shares gained approximately 7%.

McDonald’s US performance disappoints

McDonald’s reported adjusted earnings of $3.38 per share, exceeding expectations, but US comparable sales growth disappointed.

Same-store sales in the company’s largest market increased only 0.8%, compared with the approximately 1.1% expected by analysts.

Management acknowledged that its value promotions had become too complicated and that reducing some digital discounts weakened traffic among lower-income customers.

Global comparable sales increased 1.3%, also representing a slowdown.

McDonald’s appointed company veteran Skye Anderson as the new president of its US business. The leadership change reflects the urgency surrounding the company’s efforts to improve traffic, simplify promotions and restore franchisee profitability.

SpaceX spending concerns overshadow growth

SpaceX published its first quarterly report since becoming a publicly traded company.

Revenue nearly doubled, supported by Starlink, satellite launches and AI-related activities. The company said it was targeting a $100 billion annual revenue run rate by December.

However, investors focused on exceptionally high capital expenditure and cash consumption associated with AI infrastructure and next-generation satellites.

Shares fell approximately 10%–12% following the report.

The approaching expiration of the post-IPO shareholder lock-up added to selling pressure because additional shares could soon become available for trading.

Earnings season remains broadly positive

The wider earnings environment remains constructive.

More than 85% of S&P 500 companies that had reported by the beginning of the week exceeded analysts’ profit forecasts. US corporate earnings were also running substantially above their long-term trend.

In Europe, analysts expect large-company earnings to rise by approximately 20% year over year, although energy-sector profits account for a significant portion of that growth.

The latest results reveal several dominant themes:

• AI spending continues to benefit chips, networking and electricity infrastructure.
• Obesity treatments remain one of the healthcare sector’s strongest growth markets.
• Commodity volatility is producing exceptional trading profits.
• Consumers remain selective, particularly in restaurants and packaged food.
• Investors are demanding stronger forecasts after large share-price gains.

The distinction between Shopify and AMD is particularly instructive. Both companies reported rapid growth, but Shopify provided guidance substantially above expectations. AMD merely exceeded forecasts that investors already considered extremely demanding.

During this earnings season, the market is rewarding genuine upward revisions—not simply good historical results.

Sources: Reuters – Shopify revenue forecast, Reuters – Eli Lilly raises annual forecast, Reuters – Disney quarterly results, Reuters – AMD earnings and outlook, Reuters – Glencore first-half earnings, Reuters – Thomson Reuters results, Reuters – Kraft Heinz raises forecasts, Siemens Energy – Q3 2026 results.