Friday Fodder Diving into 2Q26 Earnings Setups

Equity Research 24 July 2026 | 6:03PM EDT

Friday Fodder : Diving into 2Q26 Earnings Setups

The big picture backdrop into 2Q earnings for large cap biopharma is still one in Asad Haider, CFA | which the group’s inverse positive price action interplay with Tech sector weakness Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

on AI related risks has remained a dominant trading theme on which there are Salveen Richter, CFA | ongoing debates about innings. As we’ve previously noted, historical precedents Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC show these types of generalist-driven non-fundamental rotations into biopharma can linger for extended periods of time in a non-linear fashion. From the early set of James Quigley | reporters so far that have set the tone and offered potential price action clues, we Goldman Sachs International note that beats got rewarded in EU Pharma this week (Roche +7% since results, Matt Dellatorre, Ph.D. Novartis +3%) despite some questions about quality, and JNJ has resumed its | outperformance after briefly stalling post its 2Q beat/raise last week (now +4% vs. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

XLV +3%, SPX -1.2%). Frustrating to specialists, a handful of stocks with vastly Nick Jennings | different growth profiles/forward narratives are now all up ~15% YTD (ABBV, AMGN, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC BIIB, BMY, Novartis). Related to these dynamics, we hosted our quarterly State of Jeff Su Biopharma podcast this week discussing the macro, policy and fundamental | Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC considerations for the group into 3Q.

For upcoming earnings, we expect a broadly inline set of prints and our investor conversations suggest a similar expectation, at the highest-level, with less interest in model-related line item variances, and more relative interest in understanding positioning dynamics, clinical catalyst up/downs, and BD appetite into a 2H where the velocity of M&A is widely-expected to continue. The week ahead features 2Q’s from BMY (high-risk 2H+ clinical catalysts and the BD-lever are the dominant drivers of the current narrative on the stock); ABBV (sentiment continues to lean incrementally positive); GSK (greater focus on the company’s portfolio/pipeline update to be provided in parallel) and Sanofi (first results with new CEO) — all of whom will be reporting alongside earnings from several Tech sector bellweathers (AMZN, META, MSFT) and the July FOMC meeting.

See within for more detail, including brief one-liners on setups/narratives ahead of upcoming results for LC Biopharma names.

One-Liners on US Large Cap Pharma Narratives in 2Q Results Please reach out for more detail.

n BMY (July 30th). A decent quarter is expected though 2H26 clinical events are top-of-mind, where milvexian has been most in-focus, though also getting increasingly discussed are admilparant in IPF, and data from potential

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Cobenfy-competitor MPLT expected mid-August. We also sense growing investor anticipation of the company deploying the BD-lever, albeit with limited consensus on potential targets. See: Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY): 2Q26 Earnings Preview: Solid Commercial Trends; Stock Still Anchored to Key Clinical Events. n ABBV (July 31st). Sentiment continues to lean incrementally positive in the context of an improving longer-term outlook, albeit we note agreement with our view that the stock’s recent rally has now appropriately reflected current puts and takes, and the print is not seen as a catalyst. See: AbbVie Inc. (ABBV): 2Q26 Earnings Preview: Narrative Swings Underway. n MRK (Aug 4th). Expectations are for an inline set of 2Q26 results, though the key question we are getting on this name has less to do with quarterly numbers, but more on…