Earnings sentiment is in the gutter right now for these stocks.
May 22, 2026
There is a dangerous moment in every great growth story when the numbers stop being enough. It's a tale as old as time...
The company beats, raises guidance, management says all the right things, and the stock still goes down.
That happens when expectations are sky high, investors are crowded into the story, and the market has already priced in something close to perfection.
And that was the message from Thursday’s Beat Sheet.
*Click the image to enlarge it
7 S&P 500 companies reported, and every single one beat the headline expectations.
Yet, 4 of the 7 stocks closed lower.
The S&P 500 still managed to finish higher by 20 basis points, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average joined the party with a fresh all-time high of its own.
This is still a bull market, and the major indexes are not acting like risk appetite has disappeared.
But underneath the surface, the market is selective.
And yesterday, the market delivered a very clear message through 2 of its most important names.
Let’s start with Nvidia $NVDA, because it is the most important stock in the world, with a market capitalization north of $5 trillion.
Nvidia reported record quarterly revenue, up 85% YoY.
And the Data Center revenue grew 92% YoY.
That is one of the greatest growth stories we have ever seen in public markets, and it's continuing to accelerate.
Management also made it clear that Blackwell demand remains strong, and the company continues to see demand across hyperscalers, model builders, AI clouds, sovereign customers, and enterprise buyers.
Despite beating the headline expectations again, Nvidia fell 1.7%.
That marks the 4th consecutive negative earnings reaction, while the post-earnings drift has now been negative for 5 straight quarters.
Nvidia is still a leader, and in a primary uptrend, but earnings are no longer acting like the clean tailwind they were during the first phase of this boom.
So long as NVDA remains above $212, the path of least resistance remains higher for the foreseeable future.
But the risk profile is changing...
When a company reports 85% revenue growth, guides higher, and still trades lower, investors are telling us they already expected something extraordinary.
That is fine as long as extraordinary keeps showing up.
But if Nvidia ever gives the market a real reason to sell, the reaction could be violent.
Now let’s turn to Intuit $INTU, because this was a very different kind of news failure.
Intuit also beat expectations and raised its forward guidance.
On the surface, that wasn't a bad report.
But stocks trade on what investors think comes next, and the market clearly did not like what it saw underneath the headline beat.
The chart confirms the problem...
Intuit has been one of the weakest software stocks in the market for nearly a year.
And after Thursday’s collapse, INTU is now down more than 60% from its all-time high last summer and trading at the lowest level since 2020.
What's more, INTU just decisively resolved a massive topping pattern and just entered a new structural downtrend.
And the timing of this breakdown matters...
There is a growing narrative that AI is coming for software.
While we believe that is too simplistic, it's clear that the market isn't optimistic about Intuit's future.
Until INTU can reclaim $340, we expect the sellers to maintain control for the foreseeable future.
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Happy Friday!
-The Beat Team
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