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**Beta Finch Podcast Script: AbbVie Q4 2025 Earnings**

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ALEX: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown where we digest the latest corporate earnings so you don't have to. I'm Alex.

JORDAN: And I'm Jordan. Today we're diving into AbbVie's fourth quarter 2025 results, and wow, what a story this pharmaceutical giant has to tell.

ALEX: Before we jump in, I need to mention that this podcast is AI-generated content for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing we discuss should be considered investment advice. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

JORDAN: Absolutely. Now Alex, AbbVie just delivered what CEO Robert Michael called "another excellent year," and the numbers certainly back that up. Let's start with the headline figures.

ALEX: The numbers are pretty impressive, Jordan. AbbVie hit $61.2 billion in adjusted net revenues for the full year - that's a record high and beat their initial guidance by over $2 billion. They're looking at 8.6% sales growth despite facing nearly $16 billion in HUMIRA erosion since it lost exclusivity.

JORDAN: That HUMIRA erosion is the elephant in the room, isn't it? But what's fascinating is how they've more than offset those losses. Their adjusted earnings per share came in at $10 - that's 54 cents above their initial guidance midpoint. It really shows the power of their newer drugs.

ALEX: Exactly, and speaking of those newer drugs, let's talk about the real stars of the show - SKYRIZI and RINVOQ. These two immunology powerhouses are absolutely crushing it.

JORDAN: The numbers are staggering. Combined, SKYRIZI and RINVOQ delivered about $25.9 billion in revenue - that's an $8 billion increase year-over-year. SKYRIZI alone hit $5 billion in the quarter with 31.9% operational growth, while RINVOQ came in at nearly $2.4 billion with 28.6% growth.

ALEX: And here's what caught my attention - they're already exceeding their 2027 long-term guidance by half a billion dollars. For 2026, they're projecting combined sales of over $31 billion for these two drugs. That's remarkable momentum.

JORDAN: What's really interesting is how they're dominating in specific markets. In psoriasis, SKYRIZI has over 45% prescription share in the U.S. biologic market, and their capture rates for new patients are exceeding 55% - that's four times higher than their next closest competitor.

ALEX: The competitive dynamics in IBD are particularly noteworthy. Despite new competition, SKYRIZI maintains a 75% capture rate in frontline IBD treatment, and it's even higher - 80% - specifically in Crohn's disease.

JORDAN: Now let's talk about what's really exciting for the future - their neuroscience portfolio. This segment delivered over $10.7 billion in revenue with nearly $1.8 billion in growth. But the real story here is Vialev, their Parkinson's treatment.

ALEX: Vialev hit $183 million in the quarter - up 33% sequentially - and management is now projecting it'll reach blockbuster status in 2026. That's a billion-dollar drug in its early launch phase. Pretty remarkable.

JORDAN: And they're not stopping there. They see their entire Parkinson's franchise, including Vialev, Duopa, and the upcoming Tavapadon, potentially reaching $5 billion in peak sales. Add their migraine franchise, which they also expect to exceed $5 billion, and you're talking about some serious long-term growth drivers.

ALEX: Let's shift to their pipeline because that's where AbbVie is really investing for the future. They spent nearly $1 billion more on R&D in 2025, fully funding 90 clinical programs. They also invested over $5 billion in business development.

JORDAN: Some of those acquisitions are fascinating - they picked up an in-vivo CAR-T platform, next-generation psychedelics for depression, a long-acting amylin analog for obesity, an

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ALEX: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown! Today we're digging into Apple's fiscal Q3 2026 results, and Jordan, there is a LOT here — record numbers, a CEO transition, and a whole conversation about memory chip prices that got surprisingly dramatic.

JORDAN: Before we get into any of it, quick note for everyone listening — this podcast is AI-generated content for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing we discuss should be considered investment advice. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

ALEX: Right, so let's start with the headline number: $109.4 billion in revenue, up 16% year-over-year, a June quarter record. iPhone alone did $54.3 billion, up 22%. Mac had its best June quarter ever at $10.4 billion, up 29%. Services hit $30.7 billion, also a record.

JORDAN: Those Mac numbers jumped out at me the most. 29% growth is huge for a product line that's usually pretty steady. That's the MacBook Neo and MacBook Pro doing real work — and they set records for both new customers and upgraders, including in the U.S., China, and India.

ALEX: And this all happened despite supply constraints, which becomes a big theme later in the call. Profitability-wise, gross margin was 50.1%, EPS was $2.02, up 29%. But here's the asterisk — a chunk of that came from tariff refunds, worth about two percentage points on gross margin and 11 cents on EPS.

JORDAN: Right, so strip that out and it's still a solid quarter, just not quite as flashy as the headline. Operating cash flow was $34.4 billion, also a record even without the tariff benefit. So the underlying business is genuinely strong.

ALEX: Now let's talk about the elephant in the room — memory prices. Tim Cook called this a "100-year flood" on memory pricing.

JORDAN: That phrase is going to get quoted a lot. Basically, DRAM costs have been spiking quarter after quarter — more expensive in March than December, more in June than March, and they're expecting even higher costs in September. Apple's offsetting some of it with leftover inventory and cheaper non-memory components, but that cushion is fading.

ALEX: And this is part of why Apple actually raised prices on iPad and Mac — which Cook admitted was reluctant. He was pretty candid that they look at units, revenue, and margin together rather than defending one metric in isolation.

JORDAN: The other supply story is the September guide. Apple's guiding 9-11% revenue growth for the quarter, which is a real deceleration from the mid-teens they'd been running. Analysts pushed hard on this, and Cook was clear it's not a partner or vendor issue — it's that iPhone and Mac demand outran their forecasts, and there's just less flexibility in the advanced-node chip supply chain than usual.

ALEX: Which is kind of a good problem to have, but still a real one for the next couple quarters. FX is also a headwind — about two and a half points sequentially — so between currency and supply, that explains most of the slowdown.

JORDAN: Services is worth flagging too. 12% growth was a touch below expectations, mostly FX plus some softness in mobile gaming on the App Store. But cloud services and payment services hit all-time records, and Apple now has over one and a half billion paid subscriptions. So the growth engine's still running, just facing more currency drag than the hardware side.

ALEX: Now, the big non-financial story — this was Tim Cook's final earnings call. He's handing the CEO role to John Ternus, who was on the call and fielded a question about competitive threats.

JORDAN: Ternus kept it pretty measured — didn't take the bait on OpenAI or SpaceX device rumors, just said Apple's focused on its own roadmap. Cook, on the other hand, got a little sentimental, thanking shareholders and analysts

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**ALEX**: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown where we dive into the numbers that move markets. I'm Alex, and joining me as always is Jordan. Today we're breaking down Apple's Q2 2026 earnings – and folks, this wasn't just any ordinary quarter. Jordan, before we jump in, I need to share our disclaimer: This podcast is AI-generated content for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing we discuss should be considered investment advice. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

**JORDAN**: Thanks Alex, and wow – where do we even start with this Apple quarter? I mean, we've got blockbuster numbers AND a major leadership transition announcement all in one call.

**ALEX**: Right? Tim Cook announcing he's stepping down as CEO after 15 years to become Executive Chairman, with John Ternus taking over in September. But let's start with the financial fireworks. Apple absolutely crushed it with $111.2 billion in revenue – that's up 17% year-over-year and a March quarter record.

**JORDAN**: And that revenue beat came despite supply constraints, which is remarkable. iPhone was the star of the show at $57 billion, up 22% year-over-year. Alex, when you're supply constrained and still growing at over 20%, that tells you something about the underlying demand strength.

**ALEX**: Absolutely. And it wasn't just iPhone – they had double-digit growth across every geographic segment, including Greater China which grew 28% and hit a quarterly record. The iPhone 17 family seems to be resonating incredibly well with customers.

**JORDAN**: Let's talk about those supply constraints because this is fascinating from an operational perspective. Cook was pretty transparent about this – the main constraint is availability of advanced nodes for their SoCs, not memory as some might have expected. And get this – for Mac specifically, they're seeing higher than expected demand for Mac mini and Mac Studio because customers are recognizing these as powerful AI platforms.

**ALEX**: And don't forget the MacBook Neo! Cook said customer response has been "off the charts" with higher than expected demand. They set a March record for customers new to Mac, partly due to the Neo. It sounds like Apple's strategy of bringing Mac to more people at a breakthrough price is really working.

**JORDAN**: Services hit another all-time record at $31 billion, up 16%. But here's what caught my attention – they announced they're ending their formal net cash neutrality target. CFO Kevan Parekh said they want more flexibility to evaluate cash and debt independently.

**ALEX**: That's a big strategic shift. They authorized another $100 billion in share buybacks and raised the dividend 4% to 27 cents per share. It sounds like they want more financial flexibility as they ramp up AI investments, which brings us to the elephant in the room – their AI strategy.

**JORDAN**: Cook was asked about agentic AI and the future of smartphones, and while he didn't reveal future products, he emphasized how thrilled they are with Apple Intelligence integration. The company is clearly investing heavily – R&D spending is accelerating much higher than overall company growth.

**ALEX**: The memory cost situation is interesting though. Cook was pretty direct about this – they expect "significantly higher memory costs" in the June quarter and said beyond that, memory costs will drive "an increasing impact" on their business. When analysts pushed on margins, he said they'll "look at a range of options."

**JORDAN**: That's code for potential pricing actions, right? With 99% customer satisfaction on the iPhone 17 family in the US, they clearly have pricing power. But Cook was coy about whether they'd focus on market share gains or profitability in this cost envi

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**ALEX:** Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown. I'm Alex.

**JORDAN:** And I'm Jordan. Today we're diving into Apple's absolutely massive Q1 2026 results that just dropped. Alex, before we get started, I want to make sure our listeners know that this podcast is AI-generated content for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing we discuss should be considered investment advice. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

**ALEX:** Thanks Jordan. Now, let's talk about these Apple numbers because honestly, they're pretty jaw-dropping. Apple just reported $143.8 billion in revenue - that's up 16% year-over-year and their best quarter ever. Tim Cook called it "a quarter for the record books," and I think that might be underselling it.

**JORDAN:** Right? And when you look at the iPhone specifically, we're talking about $85.3 billion in revenue - up 23% year-over-year. That's just staggering demand for the iPhone 17 lineup. But what really caught my attention was Tim Cook saying they "exited December with very lean channel inventory" because demand was so strong they basically couldn't keep up.

**ALEX:** That's a good problem to have, but it's also creating some challenges. They're actually supply-constrained going into Q2, specifically on the advanced 3-nanometer chip nodes. Tim mentioned they're in "supply chase mode" right now. Jordan, what do you make of their Q2 guidance of 13-16% revenue growth despite these constraints?

**JORDAN:** It shows the underlying demand is incredibly robust. Even with supply constraints baked into that guidance, they're still projecting double-digit growth. But here's what's interesting - they're also dealing with rising memory costs. Tim said memory had minimal impact in Q1 but expects more pressure in Q2, which is why gross margins are guided at 48-49% versus the 48.2% they just reported.

**ALEX:** Let's talk about China because that was a real standout - 38% growth year-over-year. That's near all-time high revenue levels for Apple in that market. Tim attributed it to customer enthusiasm for the iPhone 17, but also mentioned they saw strong double-digit growth in store traffic and set records for both upgraders and switchers.

**JORDAN:** The China story is fascinating because it shows Apple can still drive growth in mature markets when they have the right product. And speaking of the right product, we need to talk about the elephant in the room - AI. Apple announced a partnership with Google to develop next-generation Apple foundation models that will power a more personalized Siri coming this year.

**ALEX:** That was probably the biggest strategic announcement from the call. Tim said they chose Google's AI technology because it would "provide the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models." They're maintaining their privacy-first approach with on-device processing and private cloud compute, but this Google partnership could be a game-changer for Siri's capabilities.

**JORDAN:** What I found interesting was how coy they were about the financial details of that Google partnership. When analysts asked about potential revenue sharing similar to their search deal, Tim just said they're "not releasing the details of that." Given Apple's history with Google on search revenue, that could be meaningful for services revenue down the line.

**ALEX:** Speaking of services, that hit $30 billion - another all-time record and up 14% year-over-year. They had records in advertising, cloud services, music, and payment services. Kevin Parekh, the CFO, emphasized they now have over 2.5 billion active devices as a foundation for services growth.

**JORDAN:** That installed base number is crucial because it's the engine for their services growth. And when you

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WELCOME TO BETA FINCH, your AI-powered earnings breakdown of the companies moving markets. I'm Alex.

JORDAN: And I'm Jordan. Today we're digging into Oracle's fiscal Q1 2027 report, and Alex, this one's got some big numbers in it.

ALEX: It really does — but before we get into it, quick reminder: this podcast is AI-generated content for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing we discuss should be considered investment advice. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

JORDAN: Good, now let's get into it because Oracle's CFO Hilary Maxson used the word "acceleration" to describe the quarter, and honestly, the numbers back that up.

ALEX: Total revenue hit a record $19.3 billion, up 30% year-over-year. What's notable is that revenue actually grew sequentially from Q4 to Q1 — historically that hasn't happened for Oracle. A strong Q4 usually meant a softer Q1.

JORDAN: Right, and the real engine here is cloud infrastructure — OCI revenue was $7.4 billion, up 121% year-over-year. That's after 93% growth last quarter, so this business is actually speeding up, not slowing down.

ALEX: Cloud apps grew a more modest 10%, but within that, Fusion grew 14% and industry apps grew over 20%. Non-GAAP EPS came in at $1.92, up 30%. And then there's the RPO number — remaining performance obligations jumped $26 billion in just one quarter.

JORDAN: That RPO detail is worth pausing on. Management said the vast majority of that new backlog came through prepayments or "bring your own hardware" arrangements — meaning it doesn't require Oracle to put up more of its own capital. They now expect about half of total RPO to convert into revenue over the next 36 months.

ALEX: Which matters a lot for the CapEx conversation, because Oracle spent $28 billion in CapEx this quarter alone, leading to negative free cash flow of $5 billion. Full-year CapEx guidance stays at $90-95 billion.

JORDAN: On the Q&A, one exchange stood out to me — an analyst pushed CFO Hilary Maxson on when free cash flow turns positive again. She wouldn't give a timeline but said each data center project, once ramped, converts to free cash flow at close to 100% of post-tax EBITDA, essentially calling the business "self-funding" over time.

ALEX: There was also a good back-and-forth on gross margins, which declined this quarter as expected. Maxson was pretty clear that operating margin — which held flat around 42% — is the metric she wants investors focused on, not gross margin, since the infrastructure business is structurally lower-margin but requires much less R&D and sales spend.

JORDAN: On the infrastructure side, Co-CEO Clay Magouyrk shared some eye-popping delivery stats — 850 megawatts of AI capacity and over 300,000 GPUs delivered since Q4, almost triple what they delivered in all of Q4. GPU utilization sits at 97.9%, and — this one surprised me — GPUs coming up for renewal are actually being renewed or resold at a 20% premium to their original contracts.

ALEX: That's a strong signal on hardware longevity in a market that's been nervous about AI infrastructure depreciation. Magouyrk also addressed concerns about delays at the New Mexico and Wisconsin data centers directly, saying neither will impact fiscal 2027 revenue guidance, and stressed Oracle has a broad, diversified pipeline of sites so no single delay creates a major hit.

JORDAN: On the apps side, Co-CEO Mike Sicilia leaned into the AI-agents story — customers used embedded AI capabilities more than 150 million times in the quarter, AI agents executed 3.5 million times in production, nearly doubling quarter-over-quarter, and there are now over 2,300 AI agents live with customers, up 90% sequentially.

ALEX: They also announced NetSuite Next, a new AI-infused version of NetSuite, and noted their AI Connector Service link

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WELCOME TO BETA FINCH, your AI-powered earnings breakdown. I'm Alex, joined as always by Jordan, and today we're digging into Broadcom's fiscal Q3 2026 numbers—and folks, these are some genuinely wild numbers.

ALEX: Before we get into it, quick reminder: this podcast is AI-generated content for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing we discuss should be considered investment advice. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

JORDAN: And it's a good quarter to have that disclaimer front and center, because Hock Tan basically stood up and said "we're just getting started," and then backed it up with a $230 billion revenue forecast for 2028.

ALEX: Let's start with the headline numbers. Q3 revenue came in at $29.6 billion, up 86% year-on-year. Operating income hit $20.1 billion, up 92%, with a record 68% operating margin. And free cash flow? $13.7 billion, 46% of revenue.

JORDAN: Those margins are the story for me. Gross margin actually dipped slightly, down to about 75%, because AI chips carry more memory content and lower margins than the rest of the business. But operating margin still climbed because revenue is growing so much faster than expenses. That's operating leverage doing exactly what it's supposed to do.

ALEX: Right, and the AI piece specifically—AI semiconductor revenue was $16.7 billion for the quarter, more than tripling year-over-year. That's now 56% of total revenue, up from 49% just last quarter.

JORDAN: This company has essentially transformed into an AI infrastructure company that happens to also sell broadband chips and VMware software.

ALEX: Speaking of which, let's talk customers, because this is where it gets interesting. Broadcom has six custom AI chip customers, but Hock Tan really zeroed in on four: Google, Anthropic, OpenAI, and Meta.

JORDAN: The Google relationship is the elder statesman here—a decade of TPU development, and they just signed a long-term deal for "multi-tens of billions of dollars" of TPUs annually. They shipped the new Ironwood TPU v7 this quarter and are already ramping the next-gen v8i.

ALEX: But the real headline is Anthropic. Tan said Anthropic is on track to become Broadcom's largest XPU customer in 2027, deploying 5 gigawatts of TPU v8i next year and then 10 more gigawatts in 2028.

JORDAN: And OpenAI isn't far behind—their custom chip, nicknamed Jalapeño, is already reportedly outperforming Nvidia's Grace Blackwell in inference workloads at, according to Tan, less than half the cost. OpenAI's on pace for over 5 gigawatts by 2028, making them Broadcom's second-largest customer.

ALEX: That "half the cost" line is the thesis of the whole call, honestly. Custom silicon, co-designed for a specific model's workload, beats a general-purpose GPU on performance and cost. That's Broadcom's pitch to the market.

JORDAN: Now let's talk about the number that got everyone's attention: guidance. Q4 AI revenue guided to $21.7 billion, up 236% year-on-year. Full fiscal 2026 AI revenue now expected at $58 billion.

ALEX: And then they went further than usual—giving multi-year guidance. AI revenue is expected to double to $115 billion in fiscal 2027, then double again to $230 billion in fiscal 2028.

JORDAN: That's an unusually bold move for a company to lock in two years out. And CFO Amie Thuener was clear they don't plan to update it quarterly—so this is a stake in the ground, not a rolling estimate.

ALEX: On the Q&A, analysts pushed hard on whether that's really achievable. Stacy Rasgon from Bernstein did some math on gigawatts versus dollars, and Tan clarified something important: not all the gigawatt capacity they've outlined will necessarily be "deployed" in that window—some of it depends on data centers, power, and shells being physically r

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WELCOME TO BETA FINCH — PANW Q4 FY2026

ALEX: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown. I'm Alex, here with Jordan, and today we're digging into Palo Alto Networks' fiscal Q4 2026 results. This one's a big report to close out their fiscal year.

JORDAN: Before we jump in — this podcast is AI-generated content for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing we discuss should be considered investment advice. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

ALEX: Right, so let's get into it, because Palo Alto had a genuinely record quarter. RPO — that's remaining performance obligations, basically the backlog of contracted future revenue — crossed $20 billion for the first time, landing at $21.2 billion, up 34%.

JORDAN: And the number that really jumped out to me was Next-Generation Security ARR, or NGS ARR, hitting $9.1 billion, up 63%. They added almost $1 billion in net new NGS ARR in a single quarter. CFO Dipak Golechha pointed out that's roughly what the entire company's NGS ARR was back in his first quarter as CFO in 2021. That's the kind of comparison that really puts scale into perspective.

ALEX: Total revenue for the quarter was $3.41 billion, up 34%, and full-year revenue came in at $11.5 billion, up 24%. Non-GAAP EPS beat guidance at $1.02, and operating margin for the year expanded to 29.2%.

JORDAN: What's notable is that margin expansion happened while they were digesting their two biggest acquisitions ever — CyberArk, now rebranded Idira, and Chronosphere. Usually big M&A drags on margins for a while, but management said CyberArk's cost synergies are three to six months ahead of schedule.

ALEX: Let's talk strategy, because CEO Nikesh Arora spent a lot of time on what he called three AI "inflection points" over the last several months — the shift from prompting to autonomous agents, the "Mythos moment" where AI models got scary good at finding vulnerabilities, and now a move toward open-weight, sovereign AI models. His overall thesis: all three point toward the same conclusion.

JORDAN: Which is platformization — get customers to consolidate onto one unified security architecture instead of stitching together point products. They hit about 220 net new "platformizations" in the quarter, more than double the pace from two years ago, and platformized customers are showing net revenue retention above 120%.

ALEX: They also called out some serious deal sizes — a $126 million deal with a global telecom, $72 million with an IT services firm, $53 million with a payments company. And Prisma AIRS, their AI security product, crossed $100 million in ARR in just four quarters — fastest product scale in company history.

JORDAN: XSIAM, their security operations platform, is also cruising — over $700 million in ARR, up 70%, past 1,000 customers. And on the observability side, since closing Chronosphere, that ARR has more than doubled past $500 million. Combined, XSIAM and observability are now a billion-dollar-plus business that basically didn't exist a few years ago.

ALEX: There was also a bit of breaking news on the call — they closed an acquisition of a company called Console the same day, focused on AI-driven IT and security operations, folding into their Cortex team.

JORDAN: On the Q&A side, I thought the most candid moment was Nikesh basically saying M&A isn't a strategy for them — it's a consequence of watching 40 or 50 funded startups and jumping in when one of them nails a technology shift before Palo Alto's internal roadmap gets there. Refreshingly blunt for a CEO.

ALEX: There was also a fun exchange about the CyberArk integration — a new "Modern PAM" product just went GA, and Nikesh made the case that identity security for AI agents and machine identities is a wide-open category with no established leader yet, which is where he thinks Idira has a real head start.

JORDAN:

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WELCOME TO BETA FINCH — MEDTRONIC Q1 FY2027

ALEX: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown. I'm Alex, joined as always by Jordan, and today we're digging into Medtronic's fiscal 2027 first quarter — and it's a big one.

JORDAN: Yeah, a lot to unpack here. Big beats, a couple of surprise M&A announcements, and a robotics story that's getting more interesting by the day.

ALEX: Before we jump in, quick note — this podcast is AI-generated content for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing we discuss should be considered investment advice. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

JORDAN: With that out of the way, let's get into the numbers, because they were strong.

ALEX: $9.8 billion in revenue, up 13.7% organically, adjusted EPS of $1.45 — both well ahead of what analysts were expecting. Now, a chunk of that growth came from an accounting quirk: fiscal 2027 is a 53-week year, and that extra week added about 670 basis points to growth this quarter.

JORDAN: Right, but even stripping that out, CFO Thierry Piéton said it was their strongest quarterly performance in nearly eight years, excluding COVID comparisons. So this wasn't just a calendar trick — the underlying business is actually accelerating.

ALEX: And it was broad-based. CEO Geoff Martha kept hammering that point — it's not one hot product carrying the quarter, it's basically every major business line pulling its weight.

JORDAN: The headline story, though, is Cardiac Ablation Solutions — CAS. That business grew 88% worldwide, 139% in the U.S. They crossed $2 billion in trailing twelve-month revenue, ahead of schedule. Their Sphere-9 catheter picked up nine points of U.S. market share this quarter alone.

ALEX: Nine points in one quarter is wild for medtech.

JORDAN: It really is. And they're guiding CAS to grow at 2.5 times the broader electrophysiology market for the full year — even upgraded that to more than 3x for Q2. The U.S. installed base for their Affera system grew 35% sequentially, on top of 40% the quarter before.

ALEX: Which tells you they're nowhere near saturated. Management said 75% of that installed base is still concentrated in high-volume hospital centers, so there's a long runway into smaller accounts.

JORDAN: Beyond CAS, Cardiac Rhythm Management grew 15%, Cranial & Spinal Technologies grew 13%, and Surgical — their biggest unit at over $6 billion a year — grew 9%. Pelvic health jumped 15%, largely thanks to Altaviva, where procedures doubled sequentially.

ALEX: Now let's talk strategy, because Medtronic made two acquisition-adjacent announcements the same morning as earnings. First, a $700 million strategic investment and distribution deal with Cornerstone Robotics for their Sentire surgical robot, outside the U.S.

JORDAN: This one got some pointed questions on the call. One analyst basically asked, "Does this mean you've lost confidence in Hugo, your own robot?" And Martha pushed back hard — said it's the opposite. Hugo's on track to hit 50,000 procedures by year-end, growing at twice the market rate. Cornerstone is about extending reach into international markets where Hugo isn't the right fit, not replacing it.

ALEX: Basically building a multi-platform robotics portfolio instead of betting everything on one system.

JORDAN: Exactly — and Thierry noted the financial impact this year is minimal, mostly just some foregone interest on that investment, but they expect real revenue and margin lift starting in fiscal 2028.

ALEX: The second deal was Pi-Cardia, in structural heart — first FDA-cleared technology for leaflet modification in TAVR procedures for patients at risk of coronary obstruction. That's part of a broader doubling-down in structural heart, alongside their earlier investment in Anteris.

JORDAN: On guidance, they ra

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ALEX: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown, where we take the numbers and the noise from corporate earnings calls and turn them into something you can actually digest. I'm Alex.

JORDAN: And I'm Jordan. Today we're diving into Zoetis, ticker ZTS, the animal health giant. Q2 2026 results, and Alex, this one's a bit of a bumpy ride.

ALEX: It really is. But before we get into it — quick disclaimer. This podcast is AI-generated content for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing we discuss should be considered investment advice. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

JORDAN: Good to have that out front. So let's set the scene. Zoetis reported second quarter revenue of $2.5 billion — flat on a reported basis, actually down 1% organically. Adjusted net income came in at $781 million, down 2% organically. And here's the headline: they cut full-year guidance.

ALEX: Yeah, this wasn't a small tweak either. New revenue guidance is $9.12 to $9.32 billion, which works out to a decline of 3% to 1% for the year. Adjusted net income guidance dropped to a range implying a decline of 9% to 5%. That's a meaningful reset.

JORDAN: So what happened? Basically, the U.S. Companion Animal business — think dogs and cats, not cattle and chickens — got hit hard. Revenue there was down 11% in the U.S. Fewer vet visits, pet owners being more price-conscious, and a lot more competitors piling into categories Zoetis basically invented, like dermatology treatments.

ALEX: Right, and that's the key tension here. Their blockbuster drug Apoquel and the whole Key Dermatology franchise — U.S. dermatology revenue was down 18% in the quarter. New competitors are using aggressive discounting and rebates to steal share, and it's not growing the overall market, it's just splitting up a shrinking pie.

JORDAN: Even so, Zoetis still holds about 86% in-clinic share in U.S. dermatology, even after losing 10 points year-over-year. So they're still dominant, just under real pressure for the first time in a while.

ALEX: And parasiticides — flea, tick, heartworm meds like Simparica — were basically flat globally, with the U.S. side down 6%. Management said it's less about a specific competitor and more about a broader pullback in vet visits.

JORDAN: But here's the plot twist — it's not all bad news. Livestock had a phenomenal quarter, up 11% globally, and 23% in the U.S., partly boosted by demand for cattle parasiticides tied to that New World screwworm outbreak. And Diagnostics grew 12%, driven by point-of-care testing demand.

ALEX: So basically, the pet side is struggling, but the farm animal side and the diagnostics side are picking up a lot of the slack.

JORDAN: Exactly — that diversification is doing real work for them right now.

ALEX: Let's talk strategy, because CEO Kristin Peck was pretty clear about their playbook. Instead of cutting list prices — which she called a "permanent structural change" — they're doing what's called gross-to-net investment. Basically targeted rebates, promotions, and bundling deals to protect market share without blowing up their pricing structure long-term.

JORDAN: It's a defend-the-fort strategy. Protect volume and share now, keep the sticker price intact, and hope the competitive intensity eases once the market sorts itself out. CFO Wetteny Joseph said full-year price realization could land anywhere from flat to down 2%, depending on how aggressive they need to get.

ALEX: There's also a leadership shakeup worth mentioning. Wetteny Joseph, the CFO, is stepping down after five years — a new hire, Jay Saccaro, is coming in not just as CFO but in a newly created combined CFO and Chief Operating Officer role, overseeing manufacturing and supply chain too. That's a pretty significant restructuring of the C-suite, aimed at s

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**BETA FINCH: Walmart Q2 FY2027 Earnings Breakdown**

ALEX: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown. I'm Alex.

JORDAN: And I'm Jordan. Today we're digging into Walmart's fiscal second quarter 2027 results.

ALEX: Before we jump in — this podcast is AI-generated content for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing we discuss should be considered investment advice. Always do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

JORDAN: Good ground rules. So, Alex, Walmart just posted a really strong quarter. Where do we start?

ALEX: Let's start with the headline numbers. Enterprise sales grew 5% in constant currency — that's the top end of their guidance. Adjusted operating income was up over 17%, and EPS grew more than 19%. Walmart U.S. comps came in at 2.6%, Sam's Club U.S. hit 4.4%, and International was up nearly 8%, led by China and India.

JORDAN: But here's the twist — a good chunk of that operating income growth wasn't "organic," so to speak. Walmart received about $2.9 billion in tariff refunds this quarter, and that added roughly 750 basis points to operating income growth. Strip that out, and underlying profit growth was still solid — at the top end of their 7-10% guidance — but the headline number is inflated by a one-time item.

ALEX: Right, and CFO John David Rainey was upfront about this. He basically said, "look at Q2 and Q3 together" to get the real picture, because they're plowing a lot of that refund money right back into price cuts rather than just letting it flow to the bottom line.

JORDAN: Which explains the rollback numbers — Walmart U.S. had over 11,000 rollbacks by the end of the quarter, up from 7,200 at the end of Q1. That's a huge jump, and CEO John Furner called it one of the highest counts he can remember.

ALEX: It's a pretty deliberate strategy — take a windfall from tariff refunds, funnel it into lower prices on things like ground beef and pantry staples, and try to lock in market share. Furner mentioned food share gains were some of the strongest they've seen in a while.

JORDAN: And that's the bet, right? Price investments now, in hopes it builds durable trust and share gains that outlast the promotional period. Management was pretty candid that there's a lag — you see unit growth first, and the real payoff comes over months, not days.

ALEX: Let's talk about the stuff that weighed on results, too. Health and wellness was a real drag this quarter — that's their pharmacy business. New regulation called "Maximum Fair Price" for certain drugs hit comp sales by about 125 basis points, worse than they'd expected. They also lost the GLP-1 drug tailwind that helped in prior years.

JORDAN: Which is interesting because if you back out health and wellness, their core categories — grocery, general merchandise — have been remarkably steady, in that 3-4% range for two and a half years. So the topline wobble is really a pharmacy story, not a "Walmart is losing its core mojo" story.

ALEX: Now, the part I find genuinely exciting is the platform story — eCommerce, advertising, membership, Marketplace. Global eCommerce grew 23%. Advertising was up 38% globally. Marketplace in the U.S. grew 52%. And membership fee income hit an all-time high, up 17%.

JORDAN: This is the piece investors should really pay attention to. Rainey made a striking comparison — Walmart's U.S. comp was only about 2.5%, but operating income grew 10% excluding tariff effects. That's four times the revenue growth rate, and he said they haven't seen that kind of profit leverage relative to comp sales in two decades.

ALEX: Because these newer businesses — advertising, Marketplace, membership — carry much higher margins, and they're growing faster than the core retail business. Roughly half of profit growth this quarter came from those areas.

JORDAN: The

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