Stocks are moving on reactions, not results. Here’s what that means.
March 22, 2026
Earnings season might be slowing down… but the market isn’t.
Last week gave us everything we look for, stocks rallying on bad news, stocks selling off on good news, and a few setups that played out exactly as expected.
From homebuilders snapping brutal losing streaks… to AI-driven consulting demand hitting record highs… to semiconductors getting punished despite explosive growth…
The message is clear: It’s not about the numbers. It’s about the reaction to the numbers.
After missing expectations across the board, Lennar $LEN rallied 2.6%. This snapped a streak of 10 consecutive negative earnings reactions, which was the longest in the S&P 500.
Despite beating Wall Street's headline expectations, Adobe $ADBE fell 7.6% to its lowest level since 2019. This put the finishing touches on a massive distribution pattern, kicking off a brand-new primary downtrend.
There were no S&P 500 earnings reactions to cover, so we highlighted one of our favorite growth stories outside of the S&P 500.
The company's name is Circle Internet Group $CRCL, the provider of USDC stablecoin. On February 25, CRCL delivered a double beat and rallied +35.5% for its best reaction ever.
Lululemon $LULU crushed the market's headline expectations and rallied 3.8% for its 2nd consecutive positive earnings reaction. This created a sweet scoop-n-score setup.
Following a mixed earnings report, General Mills $GIS fell 3% to its lowest level since 2018. Organic sales declined, and profitability was pressured by reinvestment and cost headwinds. And the management team is guiding toward improvement later this year, but meaningful growth hasn’t shown up yet.
In reaction to a better-than-expected earnings report, Accenture $ACN rallied 4.3% and snapped a streak of 4 consecutive negative earnings reactions. The company posted record bookings of $22.1B, driven by strong demand for large-scale transformation and AI-driven initiatives.
Despite posting a double beat, Micron $MU fell 3.8%, marking the 5th negative earnings reaction out of the last 6 quarters. Revenue nearly tripled year-over-year, and management's guidance points to even more insane growth.
What's happening next week 👇
Earnings season is winding down, and for once… there’s not much on deck next week.
So instead of looking ahead, we’re zooming out.
Because some of the most important insights don’t come from what’s about to happen… they come from what just happened.
And this quarter gave us plenty to work with.
Today, we’re sharing a preview of what’s coming in the next Beat Quarterlyreport, including some of the exact charts we’ll be featuring when it drops in a few weeks.
If you haven’t gone through the last one yet, now’s the time. It’s one of the most comprehensive breakdowns of earnings reactions you’ll find anywhere.
And based on what we’re seeing this quarter, the next report is shaping up to be even better.
Let’s start with one of the biggest themes from this quarter: energy.
Energy stocks quietly had one of the strongest earnings seasons across the entire S&P 500.
More than 54% of companies posted double beats, meaning they came in ahead of expectations on both revenue and earnings.
Just 4.5% missed across the board, while the rest came in mixed.
But as always, the real story is in the reactions.
On the upside, names like Occidental Petroleum $OXY, Texas Pacific Land $TPL, and Marathon Petroleum $MPC all posted reaction scores north of +3.
These were some of the best earnings reactions we've seen from energy in years. In OXY's case, it was the best since 2011.
On the downside, the pain was far more contained.
ONEOK $OKE, Expand Energy $EXE, and EOG Resources $EOG were among the weakest reactions, but even those moves were relatively muted compared to what we saw in other sectors.
That’s the key takeaway here: Energy delivered strong results and strong reactions.
Now compare that to Healthcare…
At first glance, things actually looked even better. Nearly 68% of companies posted double beats, which is higher than Energy. Only 5% missed outright, and about 27% came in mixed.
So fundamentally, this was a strong quarter.
But the reactions?
All over the place.
On one end of the spectrum, we saw some of the biggest winners of the entire earnings season in the healthcare sector.
McKesson $MCK posted a reaction score above +10. DaVita $DVA wasn’t far behind with a reaction score near +10 as well.
But on the other end, the losses were just as extreme.
Boston Scientific $BSX, Molina Healthcare $MOH, Abbott Labs $ABT, and Waters $WAT all got hit hard, with reaction scores ranging from -7 to -11.
That kind of dispersion tells you everything you need to know.
This is a battleground sector.
When you see both the biggest winners and the biggest losers coming from the same sector, it means the market is being incredibly selective.
And that’s exactly the kind of environment where earnings reactions matter most.
These are the types of insights we build the Beat Quarterlyaround.
Not just who beat or missed…
But how the market responded.
Because at the end of the day, price is the only thing that pays us. Not corporate earnings.
In the Beat Quarterly, we break down every sector, highlight the biggest winners and losers, track reaction trends, and identify the setups that matter heading into the next quarter.
If this preview is any indication, the upcoming report will be packed with opportunities.
If you haven’t read the last Beat Quarterly yet, go check it out.
That's it for this week. Thank you for reading!
-The Beat Team
P.S. Fortunes are being made in commodity stocks, and Jason Perz is going LIVE next week to show you how to profit from them.
If you want to make 3x, 5x, or even 10x gains, you need to attend this event. Save your seat today.
