Today's Earnings, Tuesday July 28: Seoul Plunged 10.8% - and Wall Street Closed Higher. Five Layers of AI Infrastructure Reported Together

Updated: all of today's reporters, pre-market and after the close, with links to the full articles.

This trading day opened on an interesting contradiction. On one hand, South Korea's KOSPI plunged 10.84% and the exchange's circuit breaker fired for the eighth time this year, knocking down U.S. futures - a story we detailed in a separate piece. On the other hand, the morning's reporters told an entirely opposite story: three major consumer companies raised guidance.

And that contradiction resolved by the close - in favor of the reports. The Dow Jones finished up 1.03%, the S&P 500 rose 0.21%, and only the Nasdaq slipped 0.22% on chip-sector weakness. The panic in Seoul did not travel west.

Below are all of today's reporters, pre-market and after the close.

Royal Caribbean: Beat Its Own Guidance and Raised the Annual Outlook

The cruise company (NYSE: RCL) published the morning's strongest report. Revenue reached $4.8 billion, up 6%, and adjusted EPS stood at $4.21.

And here is the point: management's own guidance for the quarter stood at $3.83-3.93, and consensus at about $3.97. The actual result beat both by a wide margin. Net income totaled $1.1 billion and adjusted EBITDA $1.8 billion.

And the operational figures tell the story:

For those unfamiliar: a load factor of 110% is not an error. In the cruise industry, occupancy is measured on the basis of two guests per cabin; when cabins carry three or four guests, the measure passes 100%. In other words - the ships are full beyond nominal capacity.

And the guidance rose: for the full year the company now guides to adjusted EPS of $17.73-17.87 - growth of about 14% - versus a prior range of $17.10-17.50. Annual revenue growth is expected at 9%.

A full breakdown: the operating-leverage model of cruising, what a 110% load factor even means, and what it says about the consumer.

The meaning: last week American Express showed an affluent consumer spending at a record pace. Royal Caribbean confirms from the other direction - not only is he spending, he is booking vacations in advance and at full price.

Coca-Cola: Volumes Up, Margins Expanding, Guidance Raised

The beverage giant (NYSE: KO) - the parent company itself, not the Latin American bottler Coca-Cola FEMSA that reported yesterday - reported revenue of $13.4 billion, up 7%, with organic growth of 6% and unit case volumes up 5% globally.

Profitability improved on both lines: the operating margin rose to 34.9% (from 34.1%), and the comparable operating margin to 35.6% (from 34.7%). GAAP EPS rose 16% to $1.03, and comparable EPS 11% to $0.97. Year-to-date free cash flow reached $6.9 billion.

And the company raised its annual organic growth guidance to about 5%, from a prior range of 4%-5%. Growth came from the core brands - Coca-Cola, Zero Sugar and Powerade - supported by the 2026 World Cup campaign.

The meaning: volumes rising 5% is the important figure. A beverage company can show revenue growth purely from price increases, and that is a sign of weakness. When volume rises and the margin expands at the same time - it says the consumer is buying more and paying more simultaneously.

UPS: The Margin Expanded, International Jumped - and the Asterisk on the Bottom Line

The logistics giant (NYSE: UPS), one of the best barometers of global trade, reported revenue of $22.8 billion.

The breakdown is strong across the board:

The adjusted operating margin expanded to 9.2%, versus 8.8% a year ago - a meaningful figure in an industry that has been eroding for years.

But careful reading is required here: GAAP EPS stood at just $0.71, while adjusted EPS was $1.76. The gap stems from $891 million of after-tax transformation charges, mainly for workforce reductions. This is the same lesson that recurred throughout the season: check what entered the bottom line before drawing conclusions from it.

And guidance rose: for the full year the company now guides to revenue of about $91.2 billion, adjusted operating profit of about $8.65 billion and adjusted EPS of about $7.22.

The meaning: growth of 12.5% in the international business is especially encouraging in a week when global trade is in the headlines - both because of tariffs and because of the turmoil in Asia. A full breakdown: what the report says about global trade, and what really sits behind the gap between $0.71 and $1.76.

Corning: Optical Fiber Became the Growth Engine

Corning (NYSE: GLW), the 175-year-old glass maker, delivered one of the morning's strongest reports: core sales of $4.74 billion, up 17%, and core EPS of $0.78 - a 30% jump.

The gap between 17% and 30% is explained by margins, which expanded on every line: core gross margin to 39.6% (up 120 basis points) and operating margin to 20.9% (up 190).

But the story is in the breakdown: the optical communications segment jumped 32% to $2.07 billion - and inside it, enterprise networks grew 65%. This is the component driven directly by AI data centers, and the company explicitly cited Gen AI products as growing faster than the average.

Adjusted free cash flow reached $1.42 billion, and next quarter's guidance calls for sales of $4.9-5.0 billion and core EPS of $0.85-0.89. The weak point: the solar segment grew 90% but still posted a $7 million net loss.

And yet the stock plunged by a double-digit percentage - which deserves an explanation. The reason is not the quarter, but the guidance. The midpoint of next quarter's sales range ($4.95 billion) came in slightly below consensus ($5.0 billion), but the sharper point is that the company signaled a possible slowdown in capital spending by wireless carriers - a headwind inside the very segment carrying the whole thesis. The market did not reprice what happened; it repriced the pace.

The meaning: the wave of investment in AI infrastructure keeps spilling outward from the chip layer to the physical connectivity layer - but a stock price reflects expectations, not results. A full breakdown of the report, the photonics thesis and the market reaction.

Boeing: A Record Backlog, Cash Flow That Turned - and a Loss Double the Estimate

Boeing (NYSE: BA) reported revenue of $24.6 billion (+8%) with 171 deliveries of commercial aircraft.

The good news: free cash flow returned to positive at $0.6 billion, versus minus $1.5 billion in the first quarter - a swing of more than two billion dollars. And the backlog reached an all-time high of $715 billion, with more than 6,200 aircraft on order.

The less good news: the core loss came to $0.76 per share - versus an estimate of a loss of about $0.28 only. The commercial airplanes unit still posts a negative margin of 2.7%, and the defense unit absorbed $280 million of losses on the VC-25B program - the Air Force One aircraft.

The meaning: at Boeing, cash flow reflects the present and the loss reflects the past. A full breakdown.

PayPal: Beat the Estimate, but Profit Fell

PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) reported revenue of $8.7 billion (+5%), above the estimate of about $8.51 billion, and adjusted EPS of $1.38 against a $1.28 estimate - a 10-cent beat.

But: adjusted EPS a year ago was $1.40, and net income fell 11% to $1.219 billion. Full-year guidance points to a further single-digit decline in earnings.

And the standout figure: free cash flow jumped 157% to $1.775 billion, funding a $1.5 billion buyback (about 33 million shares) and $122 million of dividends.

And the context without which the report cannot be read: since July 15 a joint takeover offer from Stripe and Advent International has been on the table - about $53.4 billion, roughly $60.50 per share, with about $50 billion of committed bank financing. PayPal has not responded publicly. The meaning: this report reads as an argument about what the company is worth - and the $1.5 billion buyback, precisely now, is a statement too.

The meaning: there is a difference between beating the estimate and improving. A full breakdown of the report, the takeover offer and the gap between the lines.

Sherwin-Williams: The Stock That Led the Dow

And this is the reporter that explained, more than any other, why the Dow rose 1.03% while the Nasdaq fell. Sherwin-Williams (NYSE: SHW), the paint maker, jumped about 8% and led the index.

Consensus stood at $3.52 on revenue of $6.6 billion - so, a beat on both lines. And the company raised its full-year guidance to $10.92-11.32 per share.

And the figure that explains the reaction: same-store sales at Paint Stores Group locations open more than twelve months rose 4.2%. That is the most honest metric in retail - it strips out the effect of opening new locations and measures whether the same store is selling more.

The meaning: paint is sold to contractors, renovators and homeowners. Same-store growth is direct evidence of activity in housing and renovation - a sector especially sensitive to interest rates, one day before the Fed decision.

Three More Reporters Worth Knowing

Ecolab (NYSE: ECL) - water treatment, cleaning and sanitation for industry - reported sales of $4.4 billion (+10%), organic growth of 5%, and adjusted EPS of $2.09 (+11%). Full-year guidance was raised to $8.05-8.25.

And what is interesting in its breakdown: the growth engines that accelerated were Global High-Tech and Life Sciences. In other words - water treatment for data centers. Cooling an AI facility consumes enormous quantities of water, and this is another link in the same chain. The company also noted Middle East disruptions that partly offset growth.

American Tower (NYSE: AMT) - the REIT that owns communications towers - reported revenue of $2.749 billion (+4.7%), net income surging 133.2% to $888 million, and AFFO up 3.8%. The company raised its full-year outlook for the second time this year.

And the point that ties it to the picture too: management cited record leasing activity at CoreSite - its data-center arm.

Mondelez (NASDAQ: MDLZ) - the food maker (Oreo, Cadbury) - reported revenue up 4.1%, organic growth of 2.2% and positive volume/mix of 0.7%. Diluted EPS surged 144.9% to $1.20, but adjusted EPS actually fell 2.7% on a constant-currency basis to $0.73. The company announced a 4% dividend increase and returned $1.5 billion in the first half.

The comparison is interesting: Coca-Cola showed volumes up 5% and an expanding margin. Mondelez showed volumes up 0.7% and adjusted earnings falling. Both sell staple consumer brands - and the gap between them is a reminder that the consumer chooses, rather than buying everything.

More Morning Reporters

• jetBlue - continuing the fuel thesis we saw at Ryanair and Alaska Air.

After the Close: Visa Beat, Ford Raised Guidance, Varonis Beat on Every Line

Visa: A Beat on Both Lines

The day's central report arrived as expected - Visa (NYSE: V) - the direct complement to the American Express report: Amex covers the affluent consumer, Visa the broad one.

And it beat on both lines: net revenue of $11.63 billion (+14%) against about $11.35 billion expected, and adjusted EPS of $3.32 (+11%) against $3.23. The operating engines (constant dollars): payments volume +10%, cross-border volume +13%, processed transactions +10%. The company returned $6.2 billion to shareholders.

And three points not in the headline: client incentives reached $4.68 billion and grew 18% - faster than revenue; cross-border volume rose 13% but the revenue from it only 6%; and $563 million of severance costs were booked. A full breakdown.

Ford: A $1.3 Billion Loss - and Guidance Raised

The evening's surprise. Revenue of $48.3 billion (-4%), volumes down 12%, and a net loss of $1.3 billion - stemming almost entirely from a $3.6 billion charge for unwinding the BlueOval SK battery joint venture.

But at the operating level the picture is the reverse: adjusted EBIT of $2.5 billion (+19%), a margin expanding to 5.2% from 4.3%, and adjusted EPS of $0.42 against a $0.36 estimate.

And full-year guidance was raised by about a billion dollars - to $10-11 billion of adjusted EBIT, and free cash flow to $6-7 billion.

The breakdown explains it: Ford Blue sold 8% fewer vehicles and nearly doubled profit to $1.14 billion; Ford Pro fell to $1.72 billion on temporary aluminum shortages; and Model e shrank deliberately - volumes down 53% and the loss narrowed. A full breakdown.

Varonis: Beat on Every Line and Raised Guidance

The data-security company with Israeli roots reported revenue of $180.0 million - above guidance of $175-178 million - and cloud ARR of $726 million, a 52% jump (25% excluding conversions, at the top end of guidance).

Adjusted operating profit turned positive at $3.7 million, when guidance had called for minus $1 million to breakeven. And full-year guidance was raised beyond the size of the beat.

And what is important to understand: the GAAP loss actually widened to $40.6 million, and term license revenue collapsed 87% to $4.2 million. These are not signs of weakness - they are the expected symptoms of a transition from a licensing model to a cloud model, in which revenue is spread forward rather than recognized immediately. A full breakdown and a guide to reading a company mid-transition.

Five Layers of AI Infrastructure - in One Evening

And here is the interesting picture of the evening. Five companies supplying different layers of artificial-intelligence infrastructure reported on the same day, and only one of them signaled caution:

KLA (NASDAQ: KLAC) closed its fiscal year with revenue of $3.66 billion (+15%) and adjusted EPS of $1.05 - both at the top end of guidance. And next quarter's guidance: $4.0 billion - a jump of about 9% in a single quarter, with a gross margin above 62%. A full breakdown.

Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE) crossed a billion dollars in a quarter for the first time: $1.065 billion (+165.5%), a gross margin jumping to 33.4%, and operating cash flow that swung by $439.5 million - from minus $213 million to plus $226 million. Full-year guidance was raised to $3.9-4.2 billion - a doubling. A full breakdown.

Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) posted the evening's outlier number: gross margin jumped from 37.4% to 52.3% - nearly 15 percentage points - with revenue of $3.63 billion (+48.5%) and EPS of $5.58 against $2.24 a year ago. A full breakdown.

Teradyne (NASDAQ: TER) - which tests the finished chip, as distinct from KLA which inspects it during production - posted the evening's highest growth rate: revenue of $1.329 billion, a 104% surge from $652 million a year ago. Adjusted EPS reached $2.47 against about $2.04 expected, and gross margin 59.8%. The semiconductor test segment alone produced $1,122 million.

But next quarter's guidance is below the current one - $1.2-1.3 billion - and that warrants attention. A full breakdown.

Enphase: Revenue Down 20% - and Nearly a Third of It From Pull-Forward Buying

Enphase Energy (NASDAQ: ENPH), the maker of microinverters for solar panels, reported revenue of $291.9 million - down about 20% from $363.2 million a year ago, but up from $282.9 million in the prior quarter.

And the figure without which the report misleads: about $84.3 million of revenue was "safe harbor" revenue - customers pulling purchases forward to lock in eligibility for a U.S. tax credit - against $34.5 million in the prior quarter. In other words, nearly 29% of the quarter came from demand borrowed from the future.

And the geographic breakdown tells the story: the U.S. fell about 3%, while Europe rose about 35%.

Adjusted EPS came to $0.46 (against $0.69 a year ago), and the adjusted gross margin expanded to 46.8% - even as reciprocal tariffs cost about 2 percentage points. A full breakdown.

And the conclusion: the AI investment wave does not move as one block. The layers close to the chip - equipment, storage, power - are accelerating. Corning, which also sells to wireless carriers, flagged weakness specifically there. Anyone holding "AI exposure" as a single label is in fact holding several different stories.

How the Day Actually Closed

And here is the point worth emphasizing, because it is the opposite of what the morning implied: Wall Street did not follow the panic in Seoul.

The Dow led, the S&P rose slightly, and only the Nasdaq fell modestly - mainly on chip-sector weakness. In other words, the index that fell 10.8% in Seoul did not drag U.S. markets with it.

And within that, the individual stock moves told a more precise story than the indices:

• Sherwin-Williams jumped about 8% and led the Dow - a beat on both lines and raised guidance
• Coca-Cola posted its strongest day since 2009 - the consumer and the raised guidance were fully priced
• Boeing rose - despite the loss double the estimate. The market priced the cash-flow inflection and the backlog, not the bottom line
• PayPal rose - on the combination of the beat and the takeover offer on the table
• Corning fell 12.10% - the guidance, not the quarter
• UPS fell 6.57% - despite the expanded margin; the GAAP-versus-adjusted gap and the $891 million of charges weighed

And two further background factors shaped the day: oil prices retreated on diplomatic developments between the U.S. and Iran, and the Fed's meeting opened - with the decision due tomorrow.

The Bottom Line

Three companies representing three different consumption segments - vacations, beverages and deliveries - all raised annual guidance on the same morning, and Corning added a fourth layer: demand for data-center infrastructure is not only continuing, it is accelerating.

On the other side, the morning's two weaker reports - Boeing and PayPal - are a reminder that the picture is not uniform. But both missed for reasons tied to legacy costs and margin erosion, not to collapsing demand. At Boeing the backlog is at a record; at PayPal revenue rose - and both stocks rose anyway.

This is exactly the distinction we wrote about in the KOSPI piece: there is a difference between what the market is forced to do (sell leveraged portfolios by compulsion) and what businesses report (demand justifying raised guidance). And this day gave its answer in the close: once the forced selling was over, what remained was the reports - and they were good.

Sources: the official results announcements of Royal Caribbean, The Coca-Cola Company, UPS, Corning, Boeing and PayPal for the second quarter of 2026 (July 28, 2026), including revenue, GAAP and adjusted earnings, margins, cash flows, segment breakdowns, operational figures and updated guidance; prior management guidance and analyst consensus as covered by Zacks and StockTitan; Reuters, CNBC and TechCrunch reports from July 15, 2026 on the Stripe and Advent takeover offer for PayPal, which has not been formally confirmed by the parties; Varonis's guidance for the second quarter as given on its first-quarter call. Data accurate as of the time of writing and updated during the day. The charts are shown in real time via TradingView. Nothing herein constitutes a forecast, recommendation or advice - see the full disclaimer at the bottom of the page.