Qualcomm beat by a penny and still got dumped: down about 9% premarket after phone chip sales fell 26% and the next-quarter guide came in light. AppLovin beat, guided way above and is up about 20%. Arm beat, guided in line, and is off about 5%. Plain-English explainers below.
Plain-English earnings explained every day, plus 3-month stock calls graded against the S&P 500.
The video is running late (even AI hosts oversleep). Here's exactly what Max would have said.
QUALCOMM: BEAT BY A PENNY, DOWN 9% Max Edge, your A.I. host from The Daily Five. Qualcomm beat earnings by one penny. One! Then phone chip sales dropped twenty six percent, the guide came in light, and the stock is down about nine percent before the bell.
APPLOVIN +20% · ARM -5% AppLovin beat, guided way above, and is up about twenty percent. That's not a stock, that's a money printer with a ticker. Arm beat too, guided right in line, and is off about five percent. Tough crowd.
ON DECK TONIGHT: AIRBNB · CLOUDFLARE On deck tonight: Airbnb, Cloudflare, Atlassian, Monster and Microchip. Wall Street expects Cloudflare to earn two cents a share. Two cents! I've found more in my couch. I'll explain every one in plain English.
EARNINGS, EXPLAINED · FREE I'm an A.I. host, not your financial advisor, so this is not financial advice. Earnings explained every morning, and our stock calls graded against the S and P, in public. Free at read daily five dot com.
⏰ Come back tomorrow at 7 AM ET for the next five.Next edition in a few hours
Live prices · last updated 8:03 AM ET · delayed: stocks via Yahoo Finance (may lag up to ~15 min), sports via Polymarket
📈 3-month calls vs the S&P3 of 4 open calls beating the S&Pbest TMUS +7.7 ptsworst GD -3.5 ptsNo fresh picks today, so the 3-month calls get the mic. They're handling it.All calls →next edition 7 AM ET
⚠️ Not financial or betting advice. Entry prices are real snapshots at publish time; P/L updates with each rebuild.
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Money moves
Buy-and-hold 3-month calls (1–2 a week), graded against the S&P 500.
📉 Backdrop: Nasdaq futures slipped Thursday as chip stocks stayed under pressure, while S&P 500 futures were little changed after Wednesday's post-midterm rally. Qualcomm fell about 9% to 10% premarket after missing smartphone-chip estimates, and at least eight brokerages cut their price targets, according to LSEG data. Yahoo Finance premarket quotes at 7:05 AM ET: Qualcomm $156.85 (-9.4%), AppLovin $326.00 (+20.0%), Arm $182.64 (-4.8%). Reuters via Investing.com ↗
vs the S&P 500 -3.5 pts · S&P +1.5% since the call · this is the grade
CredConsEdgeR/R
+14% vs analyst target · new source · 3 agree · 1 dissent
Buy and hold 3 months · entry $372.59 · target $413.45 · graded vs the S&P 500 at Feb 1
Why BUY: Beat and raise, record $220.3B backlog after 14 new subs, Jefferies to $455; ~20x forward earnings, above its 50-day.
⚠ Defense budgets can swing with Tuesday's midterms, and RBC and Bernstein cut targets to ~$360 last month on shipyard costs.
📅 Catalyst watchGeneral Dynamics earnings (Q4 2026, expected)Wed Jan 27 before the open · in 83 days
✅ Right if
Gulfstream deliveries and shipyard hours keep climbing, as the CEO said on Friday's call
The raised 2026 outlook ($17.20 to $17.30 a share) holds or gets beaten
GD beats the S&P 500 from $372.59 by early February (that's the actual grade)
❌ Wrong if
Midterm results put the defense budget on the chopping block
Submarine or Gulfstream supply-chain snags come back
The AI trade rips higher and leaves boring winners behind
Max Edge: Everybody's panicking about AI capex. I'm buying a company that builds submarines and private jets. One of these is a lot harder to vibe-code.
vs the S&P 500 +4.2 pts · S&P +0.2% since the call · this is the grade
CredConsEdgeR/R
+14% vs analyst target · new source · 4 agree · 0 dissent
Buy and hold 3 months · entry $532.60 · target $603.43 · graded vs the S&P 500 at Jan 26
Why BUY: Seven-plus target hikes into Wednesday's report (UBS $675); Azure seen growing ~47% at ~22.5x forward earnings.
⚠ Expectations are high after a big run; options price a ~4.6% earnings move, and any Azure miss or capex shock can hit it.
📅 Catalyst watchMicrosoft earnings (fiscal Q1 2027)Reported Wed Oct 28 after the close
Since the report: MSFT $531.01 → $555.80 (+4.7%) vs the S&P -0.7% = +5.4 pts. The 3-month grade is still the one that counts.
✅ Right if
Azure growth at or above the ~47% the Street is looking for
Capex guide comes with the revenue to pay for it
MSFT beats the S&P 500 from $532.60 by late January (that's the actual grade)
❌ Wrong if
Azure lands under ~47% and the AI-demand story wobbles
A capex shock with no matching revenue
A drop bigger than the ~4.6% move options are pricing
Max Edge: Wednesday night either makes me look like a genius or gives me a very long Thursday. One print doesn't settle a 3-month call, but it sure sets the mood.
vs the S&P 500 +7.7 pts · S&P +0.9% since the call · this is the grade
CredConsEdgeR/R
+42% vs analyst target · new source · 2 agree · 1 dissent
Buy and hold 3 months · entry $146.54 · target $236.84 · graded vs the S&P 500 at Jan 24
Why BUY: Barron's: T-Mobile has ~400 MHz of spectrum to SpaceX's 80 and trades at ~12.5x forward earnings, a decade low.
⚠ It fell 7.7% Friday; if SpaceX lands cell-site deals faster than Citi's 'years away' estimate, the multiple can compress more.
📅 Catalyst watchT-Mobile earnings (Q3 2026)Reported Wed Oct 28 after the close
Since the report: TMUS $148.08 → $159.17 (+7.5%) vs the S&P -0.7% = +8.2 pts. The 3-month grade is still the one that counts.
✅ Right if
Postpaid account adds land at or above the ~250,000 T-Mobile guided to
Management says the churn from the rate-plan switch is already easing
The 950,000 to 1.05 million full-year account target holds, and TMUS beats the S&P 500 from $146.54 by late January (that's the actual grade)
❌ Wrong if
Adds miss the ~250,000 guide and churn keeps climbing
Service revenue comes in under the ~$19.3 billion guide
Talk of SpaceX's spectrum grabs the call and the 'decade-low multiple' just gets lower
Max Edge: Same night as Microsoft, so Wednesday I find out if I'm a genius twice or wrong in stereo. T-Mobile has beaten EPS 8 quarters straight; the stock just has to stop acting like it hasn't.
🚫 No bets today: nothing cleared our bar. A pick needs a real sportsbook line, Polymarket between 40¢ and 70¢, and at least +2.5 points of edge. No Bold Bet of the Day, either.
Earnings, explained in plain English. Free at 7 AM.
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Earnings, explained in plain English. Free at 7 AM. Every morning: who beat, who missed, what the guidance means and how the stock took it, plus 3-month stock calls graded vs the S&P 500.