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**BETA FINCH PODCAST SCRIPT**

ALEX: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown. I'm Alex, and I'm here with my co-host Jordan to dive into Wells Fargo's Q1 2026 results that just dropped. Jordan, this looks like a pretty solid quarter for the banking giant.

JORDAN: Absolutely, Alex. Before we dig in though, 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 for that important reminder. Now, let's talk numbers. Wells Fargo delivered some impressive growth across the board - diluted earnings per share up 15%, revenue growing 6%, and get this - loans growing 11% year-over-year. That's some serious momentum.

JORDAN: What really caught my eye was that they hit a major milestone - closing their final outstanding consent order. That's 14 consent orders terminated since 2019. This is huge for Wells Fargo because it means they can finally focus fully on growth rather than regulatory remediation.

ALEX: Right, and CEO Charles Scharf seemed pretty energized about this. He said they're now "focusing more fully on accelerating growth and improving returns." But let's break down the business performance. Each operating segment actually grew revenue year-over-year, which is pretty remarkable.

JORDAN: The diversification really shows. Consumer Banking and Lending up 7%, Commercial Banking up 7%, and their Corporate and Investment Bank saw banking revenue up 11% and markets revenue up 19%. That markets number is particularly strong given the volatile trading environment we've seen.

ALEX: And speaking of consumer banking, their credit card business is on fire - new account growth up nearly 60% year-over-year. They've been completely replatforming their credit card offerings over the past five years, and it's clearly paying off.

JORDAN: What's interesting is how they're balancing growth with credit discipline. Their net charge-off ratio held steady at 45 basis points year-over-year. That's solid performance, especially given they're growing the balance sheet aggressively.

ALEX: Now, there was quite a bit of discussion about their "financials except banks" portfolio - basically their non-bank financial lending. This has been getting a lot of attention lately, and CFO Michael Santomassimo did a deep dive on it.

JORDAN: Right, this portfolio is about $210 billion, or 21% of their total loans. There was one fraud-related loss that raised some eyebrows, but management seemed confident it was isolated. They went through the whole portfolio with a fine-tooth comb after that incident.

ALEX: The analysts were definitely pressing on this. One even compared it to commercial real estate office exposure from a few years ago - not necessarily in terms of risk, but in terms of generating negative attention that could overshadow good business performance.

JORDAN: Scharf pushed back on that comparison pretty firmly. He emphasized that the risk characteristics and structural protections are very different. They have advance rates that provide significant margins of protection, and they feel really good about their client selection and underwriting.

ALEX: Let's talk about the economic outlook because this is where things get interesting. They're seeing higher energy prices impacting consumers - gas now represents 75% of debit and credit card spend versus just 6% and 4% respectively before oil prices rose.

JORDAN: That's a staggering shift. Scharf noted that historically it takes consumers several months to adjust their spending in other categories when energy costs spike. They're expecting to see some economic impact in the second half of the year, but they feel good about t

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# Beta Finch Podcast Script: Wells Fargo Q4 2025 Earnings

**ALEX**: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown. I'm Alex, and joining me as always is Jordan. Today we're diving into Wells Fargo's fourth quarter 2025 results, and folks, this is a big one. 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**: That's right, Alex. And what a transformation story this is becoming. Wells Fargo just reported some pretty impressive numbers - net income hit $5.4 billion for the quarter, up 6% year-over-year, with diluted earnings per share at $1.62, up 13%. But the real story here is what's happening behind these numbers.

**ALEX**: Absolutely. Let's start with the elephant in the room that's actually turned into a huge positive - the removal of that Federal Reserve asset cap. Jordan, this has completely unleashed Wells Fargo's ability to grow their balance sheet again.

**JORDAN**: It's like taking the parking brake off a race car, Alex. CEO Charlie Scharf said their assets grew 11% year-over-year, with broad-based loan growth and higher trading assets. They're finally able to use their balance sheet to support customers properly again. And get this - they've had 22 consecutive quarters of headcount reductions, cutting over 25% since Q2 2020, while simultaneously growing the business.

**ALEX**: That's remarkable efficiency. Now, let's talk about their ambitious targets. They're now shooting for a 17-18% return on tangible common equity in the medium term. That's up from their current 15%. But when analysts pressed Scharf for a timeline, he basically said "look, we don't control interest rates or the economy."

**JORDAN**: Yeah, that was one of the more interesting Q&A moments. Steven Chubak from Wolfe Research pushed back, saying other banks do provide timelines. But Scharf held firm - he's clearly learned from overpromising in the past. His approach is essentially "judge us by our results, not our promises."

**ALEX**: Smart approach given their history. Now let's dive into the business segments. Their consumer business is really starting to show momentum. Credit card accounts opened nearly 3 million new accounts in 2025, up 21% year-over-year. Auto business returned to growth with 19% balance growth. Jordan, what stood out to you here?

**JORDAN**: What I found fascinating is how methodical they're being about this growth. Scharf specifically mentioned they're not just chasing growth for growth's sake - they want profitable growth. In auto, they became the preferred financing provider for Volkswagen and Audi. But he emphasized they're focused on "making sure we have the right level of profitability, not just growth."

**ALEX**: That's a mature approach. On the commercial side, they hired 185 coverage bankers over the last two years, with over 60% hired in 2025. They're seeing early success with higher client acquisition and loan growth. But here's where it gets interesting - they're really pushing into investment banking.

**JORDAN**: Right, they've set a goal to be a top 5 U.S. investment bank. They moved up to 8th in M&A rankings in 2025 from 12th in 2024. And Scharf mentioned they're entering 2026 with their deal pipeline "meaningfully greater than it has been at any point in the last 5 years." That's a bold statement.

**ALEX**: Now, let's talk numbers for 2026. They're guiding for net interest income of around $50 billion, up from $47.5 billion in 2025. But here's where it gets complex - they're breaking out their markets business separately now.

**JORDAN**: This is actually really important for investors to understand. They expect markets net interest income to grow to about $2 billion in 2026

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ALEX: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown, where we take the numbers and the noise and turn them into something you can actually use. I'm Alex, joined as always by Jordan. Today we're diving into Visa's fiscal third quarter 2026 results.

JORDAN: And Alex, this was a big one — Visa crossed $4 trillion in quarterly payments volume for the first time ever.

ALEX: Huge milestone. 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: Right, so let's get into the numbers. Net revenue was $11.6 billion, up 14% year-over-year, ahead of expectations. EPS came in at $3.32, up 11%. Payments volume grew 10% in constant dollars, and processed transactions grew 10% too, to 72 billion transactions.

ALEX: What jumped out to me most was the U.S. business. Payment volume grew 10% year-over-year — CEO Ryan McInerney and CFO Chris Suh both called that the strongest U.S. growth rate since fiscal 2019, excluding the post-COVID bounce.

JORDAN: And there's a real story behind that acceleration. Tax refunds, fuel costs, retail promotions, strong Visa Direct growth, and — this is the fun one — the FIFA World Cup.

ALEX: Yeah, let's talk about that, because the World Cup numbers are wild. In some host cities, card-present transactions were up as much as 20% on match days. Kansas City hit 1,000% year-over-year growth in cross-border card-present transactions during matches.

JORDAN: One thousand percent. And it wasn't just the U.S. — Mexico saw inbound cross-border volume up more than 70%, Canada up over 35%. Tap-to-pay transit in Boston was up more than 50% during the tournament window.

ALEX: Management was careful to note this is a bit of a sugar high, though. Chris Suh flagged that cross-border e-commerce, which was up 16% in the quarter, has already started moderating in July as some of those promotional and event-driven boosts fade.

JORDAN: Right, so investors should expect some of that heat to cool off heading into Q4, even though the underlying business — travel, e-commerce, consumer spend — still looks healthy by their account.

ALEX: Let's shift to what I think is the real long-term story here: value-added services, or VAS. That segment grew 34% in constant dollars to $3.8 billion.

JORDAN: And it's not just marketing services riding the FIFA wave — though that helped a lot. Suh pointed out that issuing solutions, acceptance solutions, and risk and security collectively grew more than 20% every quarter over the trailing twelve months, which is faster than the growth rates Visa laid out at its investor day back in 2025.

ALEX: So this isn't a one-quarter blip — it's a structural shift in the mix of the business.

JORDAN: Commercial and money movement solutions also grew 17%, with Visa Direct transactions up 21% to $4 billion. And commercial payments volume growth actually outpaced Visa's overall volume growth, up 13%.

ALEX: On the strategy side, two big themes stood out to me: AI and stablecoins. Visa said it's now running over 150 AI-powered applications internally and shipped more than 300 major product releases in the past year. They're restructuring product teams into smaller "agentic squads" of two to four people instead of ten-plus, and claiming 80% more code commits and 65% faster feature development.

JORDAN: Which, notably, comes alongside some tougher news — Visa announced it's eliminating a number of roles, mostly in tech and product, tied to that AI-driven efficiency push. There was $563 million in severance costs this quarter.

ALEX: Right, and when analysts asked about it on the call, Ryan McInerney's answer was basically: we take the savings from efficiency and reinvest them into growth areas — cr

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# Beta Finch Podcast Script - Visa Q2 2026 Earnings

**ALEX:** Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown where we dive deep into the numbers that matter. I'm Alex, and I'm here with my co-host Jordan to break down Visa's absolutely stellar Q2 2026 results. 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:** Thanks Alex, and wow - where do we even start with these numbers? Visa just delivered what CEO Ryan McInerney called "the strongest net revenue growth since 2022" - and when you exclude post-pandemic recovery periods, we're talking about the strongest growth since 2013!

**ALEX:** The headline numbers are just incredible. Net revenue jumped 17% year-over-year to $11.2 billion, and earnings per share grew 20%. But Jordan, what really caught my attention was how broad-based this strength was across all their business segments.

**JORDAN:** Absolutely. Let's break this down for our listeners. Payments volume grew 9% to $3.7 trillion - that's trillion with a T - and they processed 66 billion transactions, also up 9%. But here's what's really interesting: their Value-Added Services business, which is becoming a huge growth driver, jumped 27% and now represents 30% of their total revenue.

**ALEX:** That VAS number is crucial because it shows Visa isn't just a traditional payments processor anymore. They're becoming this comprehensive financial technology platform. Ryan McInerney spent a lot of time talking about four key growth drivers, and AI-powered "agentic commerce" was front and center.

**JORDAN:** Right, and I have to admit, some of this agentic commerce stuff sounds pretty futuristic. Essentially, they're betting that AI agents - think ChatGPT but for shopping - will create entirely new categories of transactions. These agents might split purchases across multiple transactions to optimize pricing, or even pay for their own data consumption transaction by transaction.

**ALEX:** It sounds wild, but McInerney made a compelling case. He said agents will prefer to use Visa cards because they offer privacy, broad acceptance, built-in security protections, and rewards. Plus, Visa already has 5 billion credentials across 200 countries - that's a massive head start.

**JORDAN:** The stablecoin strategy was equally fascinating. They're positioning themselves as what McInerney called a "hyperscaling bridge layer" between cryptocurrency infrastructure and real-world applications. They now have over 160 stablecoin card programs globally, and that payment volume grew nearly 200% year-over-year.

**ALEX:** And get this - they're settling $7 billion annually in stablecoins with their financial partners, up more than 50% just since last quarter. They've added five new blockchains for settlement, bringing their total to nine. This isn't some distant future play - it's happening right now.

**JORDAN:** Let's talk about that Wells Fargo announcement because that was a huge validation of their Pismo acquisition. Wells Fargo is migrating to Pismo's core account ledger as part of their banking modernization. When you can land one of the biggest banks in the US, that's a pretty strong signal about your technology.

**ALEX:** CFO Chris Suh was really bullish about their guidance too. They raised their full-year net revenue growth outlook to "low double-digit to low teens" - and they specifically mentioned increased client enthusiasm around the FIFA World Cup driving higher value-added services revenue.

**JORDAN:** The FIFA example he gave was incredible. They partnered with one client in Latin America with nearly 20 million cards for FIFA campaigns. In just over three months, that client saw a 10% lift in active cards,

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**BETA FINCH PODCAST SCRIPT**

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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 Visa's Q1 2026 earnings call - and wow, what a quarter for the payments giant.

**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. So Alex, let's start with the headline numbers because Visa really delivered here.

**ALEX:** They certainly did! Net revenue hit $10.9 billion, up 15% year-over-year, and earnings per share also jumped 15%. What caught my attention was how broad-based this growth was - it wasn't just one segment carrying the load.

**JORDAN:** Right, and the underlying business metrics looked solid too. Payments volume grew 8% to nearly $4 trillion - that's trillion with a T - and they processed 69 billion transactions, up 9% year-over-year. That tells me consumer spending is holding up pretty well.

**ALEX:** What really stood out was their value-added services segment. Jordan, this grew 28% and represented about 50% of their overall revenue growth in the quarter. That's a massive shift from being just a card network to becoming this comprehensive payments technology platform.

**JORDAN:** And it's smart business too, Alex. These value-added services are higher margin and less commodity-like than basic transaction processing. CEO Ryan McInerney spent a lot of time talking about their "Visa as a service" stack - essentially positioning themselves as what he called a "payment hyperscaler."

**ALEX:** I loved that terminology. They're really trying to be the AWS of payments. Speaking of innovation, let's talk about some of the tech stuff because there were some fascinating updates.

**JORDAN:** The tokenization story is incredible. They now have 17.5 billion tokens globally - that's over three times the number of physical cards! And get this - they've reduced guest checkout from 44% of e-commerce transactions in 2019 to just 16% today. Among their top 25 merchants, it's under 4%.

**ALEX:** That's a user experience revolution right there. No more typing in your card number every time you shop online. But what really got my attention was their push into what they're calling "AgenTik Commerce" - basically AI agents making payments on your behalf.

**JORDAN:** Yeah, they're working with over 100 partners on this, including AWS and Ramp. Imagine an AI assistant that can automatically book your travel or make purchases while you sleep, but with all the security and trust of the Visa network behind it. It's still early days, but the potential is huge.

**ALEX:** Now let's talk about something that's been getting a lot of buzz - stablecoins. Visa is clearly making moves here, but it sounds like they're being pretty strategic about it.

**JORDAN:** Exactly. They've reached a $4.6 billion annualized run rate for stablecoin settlement, which is still small for Visa but growing fast. What I found interesting was McInerney's comments about where they see product-market fit. He's not betting big on stablecoin payments in developed markets like the US or UK.

**ALEX:** Right, because we already have plenty of ways to pay digitally. But in markets with currency volatility or limited banking infrastructure? That's where stablecoins make sense as an on-ramp and off-ramp to the traditional financial system.

**JORDAN:** And they're now issuing stablecoin cards in over 50 countries. It's a smart way to bridge the crypto world with traditional payments without taking huge risks.

**ALEX:** Let's shift to the numbers going forward. CFO Chris Suh maintained their full-year guidance despite some headwinds.

**JORDAN:** Yeah, they're dealing w

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ALEX: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown! Today we're diving into Vertex Pharmaceuticals' second quarter 2026 results — and there's a lot going on: strong numbers, a major acquisition, and pipeline news across four disease areas. 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: Alright, Alex, let's start with the headline numbers because they're pretty solid.

ALEX: Yeah, Vertex posted $3.3 billion in total revenue for Q2, up 12% year-over-year. That's driven largely by the cystic fibrosis franchise, which grew 11%, but also some real acceleration from the newer products.

JORDAN: Right, and this is the part I find genuinely interesting — CASGEVY, their gene therapy for sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia, brought in $76 million this quarter. That's roughly 75% sequential growth and over 150% year-over-year. They had more infusions in the first half of 2026 than in all of 2025 combined.

ALEX: That's a huge inflection point. And it's not slowing down either — they had over 100 patient initiations for a third straight quarter, plus a pediatric approval for ages two to eleven that came through in just 53 days post-filing.

JORDAN: Then there's JOURNAVX, their non-opioid pain drug, at $50 million in revenue — about 70% sequential growth. The prescription numbers are climbing fast too, roughly 535,000 scripts this quarter. But here's the nuance: gross-to-net is still messy because of a patient support program covering people whose insurance has restrictions like quantity limits.

ALEX: Management said that normalizes more toward branded-drug norms in the first half of 2027, so investors watching margins on JOURNAVX should expect some lumpiness for a few more quarters.

JORDAN: On profitability — non-GAAP EPS came in at $4.73, up 5% year-over-year. Gross margin was 85.6%, a slight step down from Q1, which they attributed to product mix as CASGEVY, which costs more to manufacture, becomes a bigger slice of revenue.

ALEX: And they raised full-year revenue guidance to $13.1 to $13.2 billion, reiterating that $500 million-plus target for non-CF revenue this year.

JORDAN: Now let's talk about the big strategic move — the Crinetics Pharmaceuticals acquisition. This is roughly an $8.8 billion deal, expected to close in Q3.

ALEX: This is Vertex adding a fifth commercial pillar — rare endocrine diseases like acromegaly, CAH, and Cushing's syndrome. The two lead assets from Crinetics, paltusotine and atumelnant, are pegged at a combined peak sales opportunity of about $5 billion.

JORDAN: It's being funded through cash on hand plus a $4.5 billion term loan, and management said it should become accretive to operating income in 2029 — so this is a multi-year bet, not an immediate earnings boost.

ALEX: Let's talk pipeline, because there's a lot moving. The renal franchise is arguably the most important near-term catalyst — povetacicept, or "Povi," for IgA nephropathy has an FDA decision date of November 30th after a really strong phase III interim analysis.

JORDAN: And on the call, Reshma Kewalramani, the CEO, made a pretty confident case for Povi's differentiation — she cited a 52% reduction in proteinuria, which she called numerically the best in class, plus once-monthly dosing via a small-volume auto-injector patients can use at home.

ALEX: There was also a great analyst question about how Vertex sees eGFR data compare against a competitor's recently published numbers. Reshma's answer was essentially: strong proteinuria reduction should translate to GFR stabilization, and Vertex believes Povi's numbers on proteinuria, hematuria, and other biomarkers

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**Beta Finch Podcast Script**

ALEX: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown where we dive deep into the numbers that move markets. I'm Alex, and I'm joined as always by my co-host Jordan. Today we're breaking down Vertex Pharmaceuticals' Q1 2026 earnings call - and wow, Jordan, this was packed with updates.

JORDAN: Absolutely, Alex. But before we jump in, let me get our mandatory disclaimer out of the way. 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 Vertex. This biotech giant just delivered some impressive numbers - $2.99 billion in total revenue for Q1, representing 8% growth year-over-year. But what really caught my attention was how they're diversifying beyond their cystic fibrosis cash cow.

JORDAN: Right, and that diversification story is really the headline here. CEO Reshma Kewalramani emphasized that their newer products - KASJEVY and GERNAVICS - drove about 25% of their total revenue growth. That's a company successfully expanding its footprint beyond a single therapeutic area.

ALEX: Let's break down those newer products. KASJEVY, their gene editing therapy, brought in $43 million in Q1 revenue with over 500 patients now having started treatment. Then there's GERNAVICS for pain management at $29 million in revenue. But the real excitement seems to be around their renal pipeline, particularly something called Povitacicept or "Povi."

JORDAN: Oh, the Povi data was genuinely impressive, Alex. They just completed what Kewalramani called their fastest regulatory submission in company history - 27 days from database lock to filing. The Phase III interim results for IgA nephropathy showed a 52% reduction in proteinuria, which is a key marker doctors watch. Kewalramani described the results as "sparkling from top to bottom."

ALEX: And they're not stopping there with renal disease. They're positioning this as potentially their fourth major franchise alongside CF, blood disorders, and pain. The addressable patient population across their renal programs could be in the hundreds of thousands when you add up all the different kidney diseases they're targeting.

JORDAN: What I found interesting in the Q&A was when analyst Jessica Fye asked about renal potentially rivaling their CF business in size. Kewalramani didn't shy away from that comparison. She pointed out that while each kidney disease is rare, they're "common rare diseases" - IgA nephropathy alone affects about 150,000 patients in North America and Europe.

ALEX: The numbers definitely support the growth story. Non-GAAP earnings per share came in at $4.47, up from $4.06 the previous year. They're managing expenses well while investing heavily in these new areas - SG&A expenses were up 30% year-over-year, but that's driven by commercial investments in pain and renal programs.

JORDAN: Speaking of investments, they spent about $344 million buying back shares in Q1, showing they're returning cash to shareholders while still funding growth. They ended the quarter with $13 billion in cash and investments, so they've got plenty of firepower.

ALEX: Now, it wasn't all good news. They had to discontinue their VX-522 program for CF patients who can't benefit from their current modulators. Kewalramani explained they couldn't overcome tolerability issues related to lung inflammation, likely from the delivery mechanism.

JORDAN: That's about 5,000 patients who still can't be helped by Vertex's current CF portfolio. But Kewalramani was adamant they're not giving up on this population. She said their "commitment to CF is absolute and steadfast" and they'll go back to the drawing board on delivery methods.

ALEX:

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**Beta Finch Podcast Script: Vertex Pharmaceuticals Q4 2025 Earnings**

ALEX: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown where we decode the latest quarterly results to help you understand what really matters in the markets. I'm Alex.

JORDAN: And I'm Jordan. Today we're diving into Vertex Pharmaceuticals' Q4 2025 earnings call - and wow, what a story this company is telling about transformation and growth.

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, Vertex has been known primarily as the cystic fibrosis company for years, but this earnings call really highlighted how they're becoming something much bigger.

ALEX: That's exactly right, Jordan. Let's start with the headline numbers because they're pretty solid. Q4 revenue hit $3.2 billion, up 10% year-over-year, and full-year 2025 revenue reached $12 billion - that's 9% growth. But here's what caught my attention - CEO Reshma Kewalramani kept emphasizing this word "diversification."

JORDAN: Yes! And you can see it in the numbers. While their cystic fibrosis franchise - which includes drugs like TRIKAFTA - still drives the bulk of revenue with 7% growth globally, they're now generating meaningful revenue from completely different disease areas. KASJEVY, their gene therapy for blood disorders, brought in $116 million for the full year. And Gernavix, their non-opioid pain medication, generated $60 million in just eight months since launch.

ALEX: Let's talk about that diversification strategy because it's really the core story here. Duncan McKechnie, their commercial head, painted a picture of a company that's essentially building three new franchises alongside their CF business - in blood disorders, pain management, and now kidney disease.

JORDAN: The kidney disease piece is fascinating, Alex. They have this drug called Povatacept - or "Povi" as they call it - that's being developed for multiple kidney conditions. What's interesting is how confident management sounded about this becoming their "fourth vertical" as they put it. Kewalramani was practically glowing when discussing the clinical data.

ALEX: Right, and there's a reason for that enthusiasm. In their Phase 2 trial for IgA nephropathy - that's a progressive kidney disease - Povatacept showed a 56% reduction in protein in the urine, which is a key measure of kidney function. They've already submitted for FDA approval and expect to complete that submission in the first half of 2026.

JORDAN: But here's what I found most compelling from an investor perspective - the market opportunity. Management estimates that IgA nephropathy affects 330,000 people in the US and Europe alone. And they're not stopping there - they're studying the same drug for other kidney diseases and even expanding into neurological conditions like myasthenia gravis.

ALEX: The "pipeline-in-a-product" concept, as they called it. One drug, multiple indications, multiple revenue streams. It's a smart strategy, especially given how expensive drug development is these days.

JORDAN: Absolutely. Now let's talk about their guidance for 2026 because it tells us a lot about management's confidence level. They're projecting total revenue between $12.95 billion and $13.1 billion - that's 8-9% growth. But here's the kicker: they expect at least $500 million to come from non-CF products. That's basically triple what they generated from those products in 2025.

ALEX: That's aggressive guidance, Jordan. What gives them confidence they can hit those numbers?

JORDAN: Well, for KASJEVY - their gene therapy - they have great visibility because of how the treatme

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**Beta Finch: UPS Q2 2026 Earnings Breakdown**

ALEX: Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown. Today we're digging into UPS's second quarter 2026 results, and Jordan, this one's got a real "end of an era, start of a new one" feel to it.

JORDAN: It really does. But before we get into the brown trucks and the numbers, quick reminder for everyone listening.

ALEX: Right — 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. So the headline here is that UPS just wrapped up something they've been talking about for a year and a half — the Amazon "glide down."

ALEX: Yeah, for anyone who hasn't been following, UPS has been deliberately shrinking the amount of lower-margin Amazon volume flowing through its network — about 2 million packages a day — and using that opportunity to rebuild and automate its U.S. network. CEO Carol Tomé said flat out: "We executed that plan exactly as designed."

JORDAN: And the numbers actually back that up. Consolidated revenue came in at $22.8 billion, up 7.6% year-over-year. Operating profit was $2.1 billion, up 12%. Consolidated operating margin hit 9.2%, which is up 40 basis points from last year and — this is the eye-catching part — up 300 basis points from just the first quarter.

ALEX: That's a huge sequential jump.

JORDAN: It is, and it's really being driven by the U.S. Domestic segment. Operating profit there grew over 20% year-over-year, margin hit 8%, up 100 basis points year-over-year and 400 basis points from Q1.

ALEX: So walk me through why that's happening now, because U.S. volume was actually down 3.3%.

JORDAN: Right, that's the counterintuitive part — less volume, more profit. It comes down to mix and automation. They've eliminated roughly $4.5 billion in expense tied to this restructuring, closed 45 buildings in the first half with more coming, and cut nearly 30,000 operational positions, including through their Driver Choice Program. Meanwhile, 68.5% of U.S. volume now flows through automated buildings, up from 64% a year ago — and Tomé said automated buildings run about 28% cheaper per package.

ALEX: So it's a smaller network, but a much more efficient one.

JORDAN: Exactly. And revenue per piece in the U.S. grew 9.3%, outpacing cost per piece growth by 130 basis points. That spread is the whole ballgame for them going forward — CFO Brian Dykes said they're targeting a 50-to-100 basis point spread between revenue-per-piece and cost-per-piece growth as the engine for margin expansion.

ALEX: Let's talk strategy, because it's not just about cutting costs — they're chasing a specific kind of volume now.

JORDAN: Right, the pivot is toward premium customers — small and medium businesses, healthcare, B2B. SMB average daily volume grew 4.3%, and SMBs now make up 34.5% of total U.S. volume. Healthcare logistics crossed $3 billion in quarterly revenue for the second straight quarter, and they're leaning hard into cold chain — they added 27 temperature-controlled cross-dock facilities.

ALEX: There was a great anecdote about that — the vaccine story.

JORDAN: Yes! Tomé described a vaccine shipment that travels from a manufacturer in Belgium, through a UPS cold chain facility, over to their Cologne air hub, flown to Worldport in Louisville, then trucked to Kentucky warehousing — all in under 24 hours, and all on UPS-owned assets the whole way. That end-to-end ownership is their pitch: no handoffs to other carriers, full temperature and location visibility via RFID.

ALEX: Speaking of RFID, that came up a lot.

JORDAN: It's basically their new differentiation story. They've finished deploying RFID sensing across all U.S.

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# Beta Finch Podcast Script - UPS Q1 2026 Earnings

**ALEX:** Welcome to Beta Finch, your AI-powered earnings breakdown where we turn corporate calls into conversations you can actually follow. I'm Alex.

**JORDAN:** And I'm Jordan. Today we're diving into UPS's first quarter 2026 results, and wow - this was one packed earnings call.

**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:** Right, thanks Alex. So UPS - the brown trucks we all know - just reported Q1 numbers, and there's a lot to unpack here. They're in the middle of what CEO Carol Tomé calls "the largest driver reduction in company history."

**ALEX:** That's quite a statement. Let's start with the numbers though. Revenue came in at $21.2 billion, operating profit was $1.3 billion, and operating margin hit 6.2%. But Jordan, the real story here isn't just the numbers - it's this massive strategic transformation they're executing.

**JORDAN:** Absolutely. The elephant in the room is Amazon. UPS has been deliberately reducing their Amazon business - they call it the "Amazon glidedown" - and they're almost done. Amazon now represents just 8.8% of total revenue, down from over 13% not too long ago.

**ALEX:** I found it fascinating how Carol Tomé framed this. She said they're "overturning the old industry assumption that scale alone drives profitability." Instead, they're focusing on premium segments like small and medium businesses, B2B customers, and healthcare.

**JORDAN:** And that strategy seems to be working. Their revenue per piece grew 6.5% year-over-year in the US, even as total volume dropped 8%. That's a classic example of making less revenue worth more profit.

**ALEX:** Speaking of healthcare - this was a standout. UPS generated over $3 billion in healthcare revenue for the first time ever in a single quarter. Jordan, why is this so significant?

**JORDAN:** Healthcare logistics is a premium business with higher margins. Think about it - if you're shipping temperature-sensitive medicines or medical devices, you need specialized handling, tracking, and delivery. You pay more for that reliability. Carol mentioned they're seeing opportunities with pharmaceutical companies going direct-to-consumer, especially with those GLP-1 diabetes and weight-loss drugs.

**ALEX:** The international segment was interesting too. Despite all the geopolitical challenges - trade wars, Middle East conflicts affecting airspace - they actually outperformed expectations. Revenue grew 3.8% to $4.5 billion.

**JORDAN:** That's impressive given the headwinds. Their China-to-US trade lane, which is their most profitable international route, was still down 18.3%. But here's the key insight from the call: trade doesn't stop, it just moves. They're seeing volume growth in other parts of the world as supply chains adapt.

**ALEX:** Now let's talk about the controversial part - this "Driver Choice" buyout program. They offered voluntary buyouts to reduce about 7,500 full-time driver positions, and it was apparently oversubscribed.

**JORDAN:** This is where the human element of these corporate transformations really hits home. UPS says they needed to right-size their workforce for the new volume levels after the Amazon reduction. The program was oversubscribed, meaning more drivers wanted to take the buyout than UPS could accept.

**ALEX:** The financial impact is significant. CFO Brian Dykes mentioned about $350 million in transitional costs in Q1, including this driver program, aircraft lease expenses, and weather-related costs. But they expect these costs to largely disappear in Q2.

**JORDAN:** Which brings

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