A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Cognizant (CTSH - Free Report) . Shares have added about 1.8% in that time frame, underperforming the S&P 500.
Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Cognizant due for a pullback? Well, first let's take a quick look at its most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the recent catalysts for Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late.
Cognizant Q1 Earnings Beat Estimates, Revenues Up Y/YCognizant Technology Solutions posted adjusted earnings of $1.40 per share for the first quarter of 2026, up 13.8% year over year and surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.01%.
Revenues of $5.41 billion increased 5.8% from the year-ago quarter but missed the consensus mark by 0.02%. Trailing 12-month bookings of $29.6 billion rose 11% year over year and supported a book-to-bill of roughly 1.4x, reflecting 21% bookings growth in the quarter.
CTSH’s Segmental DetailsFinancial Services revenues of $1.64 billion rose 12.4% year over year (up 10.2% at constant currency). Management tied the strength to demand across banking and insurance clients as large-deal ramps continued to support growth.
Health Sciences revenues were $1.58 billion, up 0.5% year over year (down 0.9% at constant currency), while Products and Resources revenues climbed 3.4% year over year to $1.32 billion (up 1.1% at constant currency), and Communications, Media and Technology rose 8.1% year over year to $869 million (up 6.5% at constant currency).
Cognizant’s Regional Trends Highlight Europe's StrengthNorth America remained the core revenue engine, generating $4.05 billion (74.9% of total), up 5.1% year over year and 4.9% in constant currency. The company attributed growth to large-deal ramp activity and demand for AI and analytics services tied to readiness and innovation budgets.
Europe stood out on a reported basis. Total Europe revenue increased 9.4% year over year to $1.04 billion, though constant-currency growth was modest at 0.6%. Within Europe, the United Kingdom delivered $509 million in revenues, up 11.4% year over year (up 4.6% at constant currency), while Continental Europe revenues of $530 million rose 7.5% (down 3.1% at constant currency). Rest of World revenue was $322 million, up 3.5% year over year (up 1.5% at constant currency).
CTSH’s Operating DetailsSelling, general & administrative expenses, as a percentage of revenues, contracted 100 basis points (bps) year over year to 14.6%.
Total headcount at the end of the first quarter was 357,600 compared with 354,600 in the prior quarter.
Voluntary attrition - Tech Services on a trailing 12-month basis was 12.3% in the first quarter of 2026 compared with 12.3% and 12% for the periods ended Dec. 31, 2025, and March 31, 2026, respectively.
On an adjusted basis, operating margin was 15.6%, reflecting a 10-bps year-over-year improvement despite changes in delivery mix.
CTSH’s Balance SheetCTSH had cash and short-term investments of $1.51 billion as of March 31, 2026, compared with $1.91 billion as of Dec. 31, 2025.
As of March 31, 2026, the company had a total debt of $568 million, down from $576 billion reported as of Dec. 31, 2025.
Operating cash flow was $274 million in the quarter, and free cash flow was $198 million, consistent with typical first-quarter seasonality and impacted by a larger bonus payout. The company returned capital through both repurchases and dividends, including 6.3 million shares bought back for $427 million during the quarter.
Cognizant declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.33 per share for shareholders of record on May 18, 2026, payable May 27, 2026, and had $1.5 billion remaining under its repurchase authorization as of March 31, 2026.
CTSH Outlook Improves With Project Leap in FocusFor the second quarter of 2026, Cognizant expects revenues in the range of $5.45-$5.52 billion, implying year-over-year growth of 3.8%-5.3% (3.2%-4.7% at constant currency). For 2026, the company expects revenues in the range of $22.11-$22.64 billion, maintaining its constant-currency growth view of 4.0%-6.5%.
Profitability guidance moved higher as Project Leap takes shape. Management raised full-year 2026 adjusted operating margin guidance to 16.0%-16.2%, and reaffirmed adjusted earnings guidance of $5.63-$5.77 per share. Project Leap is expected to generate in-year savings of approximately $200-$300 million in 2026, while the company anticipates recording $230-$320 million of costs, with substantially all incurred in 2026.
How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?In the past month, investors have witnessed a downward trend in estimates revision.
VGM ScoresAt this time, Cognizant has a nice Growth Score of B, a grade with the same score on the momentum front. Charting a somewhat similar path, the stock was allocated a grade of A on the value side, putting it in the top quintile for this investment strategy.
Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of A. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.
OutlookEstimates have been broadly trending downward for the stock, and the magnitude of these revisions indicates a downward shift. Notably, Cognizant has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months.
Performance of an Industry PlayerCognizant is part of the Zacks Computers - IT Services industry. Over the past month, Fair Isaac (FICO - Free Report) , a stock from the same industry, has gained 26.5%. The company reported its results for the quarter ended March 2026 more than a month ago.
Fair Isaac reported revenues of $691.68 million in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +38.7%. EPS of $12.50 for the same period compares with $7.81 a year ago.
Fair Isaac is expected to post earnings of $12.05 per share for the current quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +40.6%. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed -0.3%.
Fair Isaac has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) based on the overall direction and magnitude of estimate revisions. Additionally, the stock has a VGM Score of C.
New roles being developed at scale and backed by proprietary SkillSpring training platform, advance Cognizant's AI Builder strategy to close the $4.5 trillion gap between AI capability and enterprise results
, /PRNewswire/ -- Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) a leading AI builder and technology services provider, today announced the creation of two new job categories; Frontier Certified Engineer and Frontier Business Operator, purpose-built for the AI era. The roles represent a significant expansion of Cognizant's workforce strategy and are designed for a new generation of talent at the forefront of enterprise AI transformation.
The announcement is a direct extension of Cognizant's AI Builder strategy, which is built on a single, urgent fact: most organizations have yet to translate AI into measurable business outcomes. Cognizant's research measures the gap between what AI can deliver and what enterprises are realizing at $4.5 trillion, a figure reflecting a shortage of the people and processes capable of meaningfully putting AI to work.
Frontier Engineers will work directly with client organizations to reimagine and realign business processes for an AI-enabled environment. Frontier Certified Engineers will specialize in rethinking how work gets done — identifying where AI can reshape operations, eliminate friction, and create lasting competitive advantage. The role requires both strategic thinking and technical fluency, making it one of the most consequential pivot points into the AI-era workforce.
Frontier Business Operators take an equally critical approach. Tasked with taking full ownership of operational results, they will manage a blended workforce of human and digital labor including deploying AI agents, automation, and human judgment in concert to drive business outcomes. Where Frontier Certified Engineers redesign the map, Frontier Business Operators navigate it in real time.
Thirumala Arohi, Senior Vice President and Head of Learning and Development at Cognizant said, "The question every enterprise is asking is why AI results aren't showing up yet. The answer is talent and process. AI has exposed 93% of jobs to automation, yet the $4.5 trillion in labor value that represents remains uncaptured. The reason is not the technology; it is the workforce architecture. The pyramid was built for a pre-AI world. Frontier Certified Engineers who design for agentic outcomes and the Frontier Business Operators who own them are a new kind of professional, trained from day one to turn AI capability into business reality. The most important innovation of this decade will not come from AI. It will come from empowering every worker to use it."
Central to the initiative is SkillSpring, Cognizant's proprietary training platform built to onboard and develop talent for emerging AI-era roles. The Frontier Certified Engineer and Frontier Business Operator tracks, which are being built at scale, will undergo structured learning paths combining AI fluency, process design, data interpretation, and operational leadership — equipping them to use and orchestrate AI tools in high-stakes enterprise environments.
SkillSpring is designed to compress the traditional ramp time for associates, giving Cognizant clients faster access to job-ready talent while providing associates with a credentialed, career-defining foundation in human-AI collaboration.
"We are making a deliberate bet on the next generation," said Kathy Diaz, Chief Human Resources Officer of Cognizant. "Frontier Certified Engineers and Frontier Business Operators are roles that are being designed from scratch and at scale for the world we are in now. SkillSpring gives us the ability to rapidly develop associates who can lead in an AI-first environment. This is how we build a workforce that isn't just ready for what's next but is actively shaping it."
The development of these roles underscores Cognizant's position as an AI builder, a company that builds the human and operational infrastructure enterprises need to make AI work at scale. As organizations across every sector grapple with the challenge of turning AI investments into bottom-line results, Cognizant is investing in the talent model that makes that transition possible.
For more information about the AI builder strategy and SkillSpring, visit cognizant.ai.
About Cognizant
Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH) is an AI Builder and technology services provider, bridging the gap between AI investment and enterprise value by building full-stack AI solutions for our clients. Our deep industry, process and engineering expertise enables us to build an organization's unique context into technology systems that amplify human potential, drive tangible outcomes and keep global enterprises ahead in a fast-changing world. See how at www.cognizant.ai or @cognizant.
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Stock to Watch: Cognizant (CTSH - Free Report) Headquartered in Teaneck, NJ, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation is a leading professional services company. The company was spun off from Dun & Bradstreet in 1996 and went public in 1998.
CTSH is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of A.
Momentum investors should take note of this Computer and Technology stock. CTSH has a Momentum Style Score of A, and shares are up 10.2% over the past four weeks.
Six analysts revised their earnings estimate upwards in the last 60 days for fiscal 2026. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.04 to $5.70 per share. CTSH boasts an average earnings surprise of +4.8%.
With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Momentum and VGM Style Scores, CTSH should be on investors' short list.
Cognizant deepens its partnership with CrowdStrike, bringing the CrowdStrike Falcon® platform to its AI Factory and Managed Cybersecurity Services to help enterprises secure AI across every layer.
, /PRNewswire/ -- Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) announced an expanded strategic alliance with CrowdStrike to help enterprises secure artificial intelligence across its lifecycle, from the AI agents and models to the foundational infrastructure that supports the entire AI ecosystem. Building on a partnership established in 2025, Cognizant is bringing the CrowdStrike Falcon® platform to its AI Factory and its Managed Cybersecurity Services, powered by the Cognizant Neuro® Cybersecurity platform.
The expansion arrives at an inflection point for enterprise AI. Organizations are no longer deciding whether to deploy autonomous AI agents; they are deploying them at scale, across operations, IT and core business processes, and across every environment they run in, from public and private cloud to the edge. That shift widens the enterprise attack surface in ways traditional tooling was not built to address. Adversaries are accelerating attacks with AI, exploiting unsanctioned "shadow AI", manipulating models through prompt injection and probing the new entry points that agentic architectures create. Security has become the decisive factor in whether enterprise AI scales with confidence or stalls.
"AI Builder is about putting AI to work inside the workflows that run a business, and that only scales if the AI is secure from the start. An unsecured AI agent isn't a productivity gain, it's an open door," said Surya Gummadi, President, Americas, Cognizant. "By bringing the CrowdStrike Falcon platform together with our AI Factory and Neuro Cybersecurity platform, we're giving clients a way to build, run and secure autonomous AI across the agent, the model and the infrastructure beneath it. That's what it takes to move AI into real enterprise operations with an approach aligned to the assurance expectations of boards, regulators and customers."
Cognizant's AI Builder approach is about putting AI to work where it matters, embedding intelligent agents into the workflows that run the enterprise. For that to scale, the AI has to be secure, governed and trustworthy. This alliance aims to deliver on both, across three capabilities:
AI-native managed security operations: Cognizant is bringing the CrowdStrike Falcon® platform, including Charlotte AI™ and CrowdStrike's Agentic Security Workforce, and Falcon® Next-Gen SIEM, to its managed cybersecurity services, orchestrated through the Cognizant Neuro® Cybersecurity platform. The result brings always-on AI agents supporting functions such as alert triage, threat intelligence, vulnerability prioritization and data onboarding into Cognizant's delivery operations, within guardrails set by Cognizant's security architects. Security and governance across AI Factory: Within Cognizant's AI Factory, CrowdStrike Falcon® capabilities support the governance layer that is designed to keep AI agents and applications operating inside defined security and compliance boundaries. Falcon® AI Detection and Response (AIDR) helps protect the prompt and agent interaction layer, while AI model scanning and shadow AI detection give clients visibility into every model, tool and agent in their environment. These capabilities are delivered in collaboration with clients and operate within client-defined governance, risk and compliance frameworks. A security layer for private, sovereign AI: For regulated industries such as financial services, healthcare and government, Cognizant's private AI Factory deployments aim to deliver sovereign, on-premises AI infrastructure hosted within a client's own data center. The CrowdStrike Falcon® platform serves as a security layer across these deployments, extending unified protection to the compute, containers and data pipelines that power private models. These capabilities build on Cognizant being named CrowdStrike's 2026 Americas Velocity Partner of the Year, recognizing Cognizant's measurable pipeline and delivery success and the speed at which it has brought joint capabilities to market with CrowdStrike.
"The future enterprise will be powered by AI agents. The challenge isn't building them, it's securing them," said Daniel Bernard, chief business officer at CrowdStrike. "Together, CrowdStrike and Cognizant are helping organizations move AI from experimentation to enterprise adoption with the confidence that every agent, model and workload is protected by the Falcon platform. That's how businesses innovate faster, deploy AI securely and stop breaches in the AI era."
Together, Cognizant and CrowdStrike are aiming to give enterprises a path to deploy autonomous AI with confidence that every agent, model and interaction is protected, governed and resilient by design.
About Cognizant
Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH) is an AI Builder and technology services provider, bridging the gap between AI investment and enterprise value by building full-stack AI solutions for our clients. Our deep industry, process and engineering expertise enables us to build an organization's unique context into technology systems that amplify human potential, drive tangible outcomes and keep global enterprises ahead in a fast-changing world. See how at www.cognizant.ai or @cognizant.
Resources Investor Relations Journalists Agencies Client Login Send a Release News Products Contact , /PRNewswire/ -- Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH), a leading AI builder and technology services provider, today announced its participation in the following investor conference:
2026 Nasdaq Investor Conference in Association with Jefferies
Presenter:
Jatin Dalal, Chief Financial Officer
Date:
Wednesday, June 10, 2026
Time:
9:00AM EST | 2:00PM BST
A live audio webcast of the presentation will be available at Cognizant's website:
http://investors.cognizant.com. A replay of the webcast will remain available on the company's website for 90 days.
About Cognizant
Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is an AI builder and technology services provider, building the bridge between AI investment and enterprise value by building full-stack AI solutions for our clients. Our deep industry, process and engineering expertise enables us to build an organization's unique context into technology systems that amplify human potential, realize tangible returns and keep global enterprises ahead in a fast-changing world. See how at cognizant.ai or @cognizant.
Expanded collaboration leverages Snowflake CoCo aiming to deliver production-grade
intelligent agents across data engineering, analytics and decision workflows
, /PRNewswire/ -- Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH) and Snowflake today announced at Snowflake Summit 26 an expanded collaboration aiming to accelerate enterprise AI adoption through the Snowflake CoCo platform. As a Preferred Launch Partner for CoCo and Snowflake's 2026 CoCo Catalyst Partner of the Year for Impactful Customer Story, Cognizant is deploying a growing portfolio of AI-powered intelligent agents that support and enhance data engineering, analytics and business decision workflows, helping organizations move beyond pilots and into full-scale production with speed and confidence.
Enterprises are under increasing pressure to operationalize AI, yet many remain constrained by legacy systems, fragmented data environments and the complexity of embedding AI into business workflows. Cognizant's AI Builder strategy is designed to address this challenge directly by connecting advanced AI platforms, deep industry expertise and workflow-centric design to translate AI investment into measurable business outcomes. Under this approach, Cognizant is enabling clients to compress timelines across the full AI lifecycle, from semantic model generation and agent orchestration to governed analytics and streamlined validation workflows, deploying production-grade intelligent agents at a pace traditional delivery models often struggle to match.
"When the data foundation is AI-ready and business context is built in, build cycles collapse," said Naveen Sharma, Senior Vice President and Practice Head, AI & Analytics at Cognizant. "That is exactly what Cognizant's AI Builder approach delivers, and with Snowflake CoCo, we are putting production-grade AI into enterprise workflows in hours, not weeks."
The expanded collaboration is underpinned by strong enterprise adoption of the CoCo platform within Cognizant's AI & Analytics practice, which integrates AI engineering, domain expertise and ecosystem platforms to operationalize AI at scale. To date, CoCo has expanded to more than 2,250 users across Cognizant labs and client environments, with over 30 enterprise use cases operationalized and more than 260 hours of enablement delivered. Cognizant has also developed 12+ custom CoCo skills and over 90 revenue-ready accelerators, supporting more than 1.3 million AI-driven requests, demonstrating sustained, enterprise-wide adoption and real consumption at scale.
"Enterprises are at a pivotal moment in their AI journey, where success depends on the ability to move from experimentation to real, scalable impact," said Amy Kodl, SVP, Worldwide Alliances & Channels at Snowflake. "Our collaboration with Cognizant brings together the power of the CoCo platform with deep industry and workflow expertise to help organizations operationalize AI faster—turning data into decisions and driving meaningful business outcomes at scale."
A+E Global Media™ provides a clear example of how enterprises are translating AI investment into measurable business outcomes. Cognizant successfully deployed an AI-powered conversational analytics agent built on Snowflake CoCo to transform Creative Airing Logs across the linear landscape. The solution streamlined a previously manual, multi-step analytics workflow by automating dataset preparation and supporting business users in asking natural language questions and easy investigation of trafficking discrepancies reported by agencies, as well as ad-hoc reporting on problematic product categories.
By replacing time-intensive reporting processes, the Cortex agent significantly improved operational efficiency across Commercial Operations and Legal & Business Affairs teams. Agent implementation has helped A+E Global Media reclaim approximately 200 hours of manual effort for business users while reducing labor costs and accelerating decision-making. Snowflake CoCo accelerated end-to-end workflow – from authoring complex SQL, to validating data quality and performing exploratory analysis – serving as an AI co-pilot that reduced development time, improved accuracy and streamlined key phases of delivery.
"At A+E Global Media, we are leveraging Snowflake's AI-native cloud platform, including Cortex agents, to enable intelligent access to creative airing and advertising operations data. This empowers our Ad Operations and Legal teams to interact with data more directly, make faster and more informed decisions and significantly reduce manual effort across critical workflows. Cognizant continues to be a strong strategic partner in helping us bring these innovative AI-driven solutions to life," said Bruno Sathyan, VP, Corporate Application Engineering & Enterprise Data at A+E Global Media.
Cognizant continues to expand its portfolio of CoCo-enabled use cases across analytics, contract intelligence, compliance automation, financial workflows and anomaly detection. Representative outcomes include up to 70% effort reduction for a global biopharma leader, approximately $85K in annual savings and 1,300 hours reclaimed for a sports and entertainment company and a 99% reduction in change impact analysis time for a North American telecom provider, reinforcing its leadership in translating AI innovation into tangible enterprise value.
Building on the success of engagements such as A+E Global Media, Cognizant plans to continue to deepen its investment in industry-specific CoCo skills, pre-built agent templates and cross-platform orchestration capabilities – supporting enterprises to scale their agentic AI programs on a proven, governed foundation.
For the latest news and announcements, including coverage from Snowflake Summit 2026, visit LinkedIn and X.
About Cognizant
Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is an AI builder and technology services provider, building the bridge between AI investment and enterprise value by building full-stack AI solutions for our clients. Our deep industry, process and engineering expertise enables us to build an organization's unique context into technology systems that amplify human potential, realize tangible returns and keep global enterprises ahead in a fast-changing world. See how at www.cognizant.ai or @cognizant.
New integration pairs ServiceNow's visibility and governance with Cognizant's agentic intelligence and control platform, providing a path to help enable the continuous application of responsible AI principles across the full AI lifecycle
, /PRNewswire/ -- Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH) announced the integration of Cognizant Neuro® AI Trust with ServiceNow, enhancing one of the most widely adopted enterprise AI platforms with a continuous AI assurance infrastructure purpose-built for enterprise scale. The integration is designed to give organizations a single, interoperable environment in which AI governance is not only visible and managed but actively enforced through responsible AI agents operating across every stage of the AI lifecycle.
AI deployment is no longer the constraint. The constraint is trust: the ability to confidently demonstrate, at scale, that AI running inside regulated processes, customer-facing systems and core operations is aligned with its intended purpose and defined controls. Without that assurance layer, enterprises hesitate at the threshold of real transformation.
The integrated offering is designed to offer users a fundamental shift in how they manage and scale AI. Where teams once struggled with fragmented visibility, manual compliance and slow deployment cycles, they now stand to gain a unified, real-time view of every AI asset in operation, with governance and risk controls embedded directly into their workflows. The result is designed to support faster, more confident AI deployment, audit readiness and the ability to demonstrate measurable business value to leadership, regulators and customers.
The vision is one where, when AI systems fail or drift, organizations know immediately, respond automatically and can demonstrate they were operating responsibly, shifting AI from a source of operational and reputational risk into a trusted business capability.
"The market has solved AI access. What enterprises now need is the ability to operate AI responsibly at the scale and speed their businesses demand," said Sriram Kumaresan, Global Head of Cloud and Infrastructure Services, Cognizant. "With this integration, customers gain not just a platform for visibility, but an active operating layer that helps organizations operationalize and monitor responsible AI behavior continuously as their systems learn, adapt and act."
The ServiceNow AI Control Tower is designed to provide the unified governance and observability backbone, unifying strategy, controls and performance management across every AI system, agent and workflow. Cognizant Neuro AI Trust extends this foundation with real-time assurance across the full AI enterprise stack, deploying a library of responsible AI and Guardian agents that orchestrate dynamically to support the application of fairness, safety, security, transparency and compliance principles throughout AI development and operation. The platform is built for interoperability, extending governance across third-party agentic networks to support consistent enforcement regardless of where AI systems operate. Together, the integrated solution is designed to move enterprises from periodic compliance to more continuous, observable AI assurance.
"The agentic AI terrain is expanding quickly in scope and in business impact, and yet the visibility gap is palpable. AI Control Tower gives organizations a single command center to govern every model, every agent and AI asset, and their identities and associated permissions across the enterprise, not just inside ServiceNow," said John Aisien, senior vice president and general manager, Central Product Management, Security & Risk at ServiceNow. "Together with Cognizant, we're closing this gap: connecting deployment to accountability, through a unified approach to governance. With a comprehensive framework for discovering, monitoring, managing and scaling AI, organizations can accelerate innovation while maintaining trust and control across their operations."
The integration is designed for the realities of regulated enterprise AI. Cognizant's platform comes with a library of leading standards, regulatory frameworks1 and guardrails with pre-built compliance content designed to compress the time from policy to operational implementation. The combined offering supports a three-phase operating model: plan with clarity, onboard with governance and operate with confidence. For enterprises facing the persistent challenge of closing the distance between AI investment and measurable business outcomes, governance becomes a source of speed rather than friction.
"The hard part of AI governance was never writing the policy; it's enforcing it as systems learn and act. Clients increasingly want that gap closed automatically and tied to business outcomes. The pairing of Cognizant Neuro AI Trust with the ServiceNow AI Control Tower reflects where enterprise AI governance is headed: from static oversight to continuous, execution-driven operations," said Nitish Mittal, Partner at Everest Group.
The combined offering reflects Cognizant's broader strategy as an AI builder: helping enterprises move from AI experimentation to production by ensuring AI in production stays accountable to the people, policies and regulators that depend on it. More details on Cognizant Neuro AI Trust's control and intelligence layers are expected to be announced in the near future.
For more information about Cognizant's partnership with ServiceNow, visit this page.
About Cognizant
Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH) is an AI Builder and technology services provider, bridging the gap between AI investment and enterprise value by building full-stack AI solutions for our clients. Our deep industry, process and engineering expertise enables us to build an organization's unique context into technology systems that amplify human potential, drive tangible outcomes and keep global enterprises ahead in a fast-changing world. See how at www.cognizant.ai or @cognizant.
ServiceNow, the ServiceNow logo and other ServiceNow marks are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of ServiceNow, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.
For more information, contact:
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1 Including the EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF, and ISO 42001
Establishes industry leading sovereign Physical AI Platform-as-a-Service, built on the Cognizant® Intelligence Spine Unifies Cognizant's engineering, AI, industry capabilities for Physical AI across eight core verticals , /PRNewswire/ -- Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) today launched an industry leading sovereign Physical AI Platform-as-a-Service, an integrated capability that moves autonomous systems from experimentation into core enterprise infrastructure. Built on the Cognizant Intelligence Spine, the offering connects disparate physical systems, including industrial sensors, IoT devices, factory automation and energy infrastructure, into a single coherent intelligence fabric, helping enterprises scale Physical AI across their operations.
Cognizant Launches Sovereign Physical AI Platform-as-a-Service Physical AI brings advanced multimodal intelligence, including vision, sensing, positioning and low-latency communication, into the operating layers of a business, allowing enterprises to direct physical action with greater visibility and control. After two decades in which industrialization centered on software, autonomous systems are now expanding into factories, warehouses, agriculture, healthcare and mobility, opening what the Grand View Research has estimated to be close to a trillion-dollar opportunity across service and utility robotics, autonomous vehicles and humanoid systems by 2033.
"In some ways, this is the iPhone moment for robotics and Physical AI," said Ravi Kumar S, CEO, Cognizant. "Advanced vision sensors, precise positioning, low-latency secure communication and new multimodal AI innovations are the constituents that bring AI into the physical world. Over the next few years, autonomous systems are expected to move from experiments to infrastructure. As an AI builder, our role is to help embed AI-powered digital intelligence into the physical and operating layers of a business, so enterprises can direct physical action with confidence. The enterprises we serve are at an inflection point, and we have built the cognitive foundation they need to move forward."
The shift is documented in Cognizant's New Work, New World 2026 study, which found that AI exposure in physical work has accelerated faster than long-range forecasts anticipated. In transportation, AI exposure climbed from 6% to 25%, and in construction it rose from 4% to 12%. The study also found that the most human-centered parts of physical work now have meaningful potential for digital enhancement, reinforcing the case for embedding AI directly into operational layers rather than leaving it confined to digital systems.
"Engineering and AI capabilities are distributed across companies and industries, and the opportunity in front of us is pervasive," said Vijay Narayan, Cognizant's newly appointed Global Head for Physical AI, who also leads the company's Manufacturing, Logistics, Energy and Utilities business. "Bringing them together lets us give clients a coherent way to put AI to work where their operations actually run. The differentiator is not a single model or sensor. It is the discipline to connect what physical systems observe, reason about it, act on it and keep that intelligence owned and governed by the enterprise as an asset that compounds over time. As AI builders, our role is to help embed intelligence into the physical and operating layers of a business, not to leave it confined to digital systems. We believe the companies that will lead the Physical AI era are not the ones waiting for proof-of-concept experiments to mature; they are the ones building governed, scalable systems into their physical and operational cores today, and that is what Cognizant is uniquely positioned to deliver."
Built on the Cognizant Intelligence Spine
The central challenge in Physical AI is no longer building capable use cases but scaling and connecting them. The proliferation of AI models and equipment makers across the ecosystem leaves enterprises without shared context, a unified reasoning layer, or institutional knowledge they truly own, a condition that leaves an enterprise able to sense everything yet reason about little of it. Cognizant's thesis is that this is an architectural problem.
The company's answer is the Cognizant Intelligence Spine, an industry leading sovereign institutional AI platform-as-a-service for Physical AI. The Spine sits between the physical edge, including sensors, cameras, robots and AI twins, and the agentic layer that reasons and acts, connecting physical AI systems with agentic AI into a single institutional mind that is designed for enterprise ownership and governance.
In physical environments, where failure carries safety, compliance or operational consequences rather than just a poor user experience, this governed and sovereign approach is increasingly critical for many enterprise use cases. Cognizant builds the sovereign layer that makes physical AI institutional: unified across every system, connected to agentic AI, governed by the client's rules and deepening with every decision, so each AI system deployed contributes to a unified institutional intelligence the enterprise owns, governs and expands over time.
Capabilities Across Eight Core Verticals
Cognizant is deploying this capability across sectors, aligning its engineering, AI and industry expertise to deliver production value at-scale. From predictive maintenance and mission-critical system integration to clinical operations and intelligent energy grids, the applications are as diverse as they are impactful. The Cognizant Intelligence Spine is available for enterprise engagements with immediate applicability across eight core verticals including:
Utilities: Grid modernization, wildfire prevention, predictive asset maintenance, distributed energy management. Oil & Gas: Pipeline integrity monitoring, autonomous inspection, safety-system intelligence, environmental compliance. Manufacturing: Autonomous quality control, predictive maintenance, robotic process integration, yield optimization. Logistics: Autonomous warehouse operations, fleet intelligence, last-mile optimization, supply chain visibility. Transportation: Autonomous fleet operations, infrastructure monitoring, port operations, real-time routing intelligence. Aerospace & Defense: Autonomous inspection, mission-critical AI, sovereign systems with full institutional governance. Healthcare & Life Sciences: Autonomous lab operations, clinical robotics, supply chain intelligence, capabilities for regulatory traceability. Consumer, Retail and CPG: Safety-critical monitoring, regulatory compliance automation, process inspection, digital-twin governance. About Cognizant
Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH) is an AI Builder and technology services provider, bridging the gap between AI investment and enterprise value by building full-stack AI solutions for our clients. Our deep industry, process and engineering expertise enables us to build an organization's unique context into technology systems that amplify human potential, drive tangible outcomes and keep global enterprises ahead in a fast-changing world. See how at www.cognizant.ai or @Cognizant.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes statements that may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the accuracy of which are necessarily subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. These statements include, but are not limited to, express or implied forward-looking statements relating to the opportunity value of Physical AI, the effects and speed of impact of AI on physical work and the economy and Cognizant's ability to successfully deploy its Physical AI offerings in client environments. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees but include findings of the report discussed above and remain subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Cognizant's control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. Existing and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Factors that could cause outcomes to differ materially from those expressed or implied include general economic conditions, the impact of technological development and competition, the competitive and rapidly changing nature of the markets Cognizant and its clients compete in and the other factors discussed in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cognizant undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities law.
ZipRecruiter (NYSE:ZIP) is back in the chatter as retail traders bet the soft labor market is about to turn, with the stock bouncing 13.29% in the past month. But here’s what you should actually be watching.
The ZipRecruiter Trade Is a Trap The bull case for ZipRecruiter requires you to believe a hiring rebound is imminent. The data says otherwise. Unemployment sat at 4.3% in April 2026, up from 3.9% two years earlier. CEO Ian Siegel himself described a “persistently soft labor market” with quits and total hires near their lowest levels since 2015.
The financials confirm the structural decay. Q1 2026 revenue fell to $107.5 million, down 2.3% year over year, with a GAAP net loss of $4.74 million. Full-year 2025 revenue slid 5.27% to $449 million, producing a $33 million net loss. Management is guiding to flat revenue in 2026. Shares have shed 44.99% over the past year and 84.58% over five. At a $264 million market cap with negative book value, this is a structurally shrinking micro-cap dressing up an AI matching engine to distract from the core business burning out.
The Smarter Play: Cognizant The real macro shift is enterprise automation, and Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH | CTSH Price Prediction) is built precisely for the moment when corporations stop hiring bodies and start overhauling tech stacks. The stock has pulled back 29.47% over the past year to $55.76, trading at just 12x trailing earnings and 10x forward. Three reasons retirement investors should care.
1. Profitable growth at scale. Q1 2026 revenue hit $5.41 billion, up 5.8% year over year, with adjusted EPS of $1.40 beating the $1.33 consensus and earnings growing 13.8%. Financial Services surged 12.4% to $1.644 billion. Quarterly bookings rose 21% year over year, with trailing bookings of $29.6 billion at a 1.4x book-to-bill. ZipRecruiter is shrinking and losing money. Cognizant is compounding.
2. AI with actual cash flow. The partnership roster is real: OpenAI Codex, Google Cloud Diamond, Palantir, and the 3Cloud acquisition for Microsoft Azure. CEO Ravi Kumar S is using these to bridge what he calls the “AI Velocity Gap”, with over 5,000 AI engagements and roughly 40% of code AI-assisted. All of it is funded by $2.665 billion of FY25 free cash flow, up 45.87%. This is AI you can underwrite.
3. Shareholder returns ZipRecruiter cannot match. Cognizant plans $1.6 billion in 2026 capital returns, including $1 billion in buybacks, with the quarterly dividend raised to $0.33. Project Leap is targeting $200 to $300 million in 2026 savings, lifting adjusted operating margin guidance to 16.0% to 16.2%. The analyst target sits at $72.52, well above the current quote.
Close Cognizant on the watchlist, and let the labor-market crowd keep arguing about ZipRecruiter.
It doesn't matter your age or experience: taking full advantage of the stock market and investing with confidence are common goals for all investors. Luckily, Zacks Premium offers several different ways to do both.
Featuring daily updates of the Zacks Rank and Zacks Industry Rank, full access to the Zacks #1 Rank List, Equity Research reports, and Premium stock screens, the research service can help you become a smarter, more self-assured investor.
It also includes access to the Zacks Style Scores.
What are the Zacks Style Scores? The Zacks Style Scores, developed alongside the Zacks Rank, are complementary indicators that rate stocks based on three widely-followed investing methodologies; they also help investors pick stocks with the best chances of beating the market over the next 30 days.
Each stock is given an alphabetic rating of A, B, C, D or F based on their value, growth, and momentum qualities. With this system, an A is better than a B, a B is better than a C, and so on, meaning the better the score, the better chance the stock will outperform.
The Style Scores are broken down into four categories:
Value ScoreValue investors love finding good stocks at good prices, especially before the broader market catches on to a stock's true value. Utilizing ratios like P/E, PEG, Price/Sales, Price/Cash Flow, and many other multiples, the Value Style Score identifies the most attractive and most discounted stocks.
Growth ScoreGrowth investors, on the other hand, are more concerned with a company's financial strength and health, and its future outlook. The Growth Style Score examines things like projected and historic earnings, sales, and cash flow to find stocks that will experience sustainable growth over time.
Momentum ScoreMomentum investors, who live by the saying "the trend is your friend," are most interested in taking advantage of upward or downward trends in a stock's price or earnings outlook. Utilizing one-week price change and the monthly percentage change in earnings estimates, among other factors, the Momentum Style Score can help determine favorable times to buy high-momentum stocks.
VGM ScoreIf you want a combination of all three Style Scores, then the VGM Score will be your friend. It rates each stock on their combined weighted styles, helping you find the companies with the most attractive value, best growth forecast, and most promising momentum. It's also one of the best indicators to use with the Zacks Rank.
How Style Scores Work with the Zacks Rank The Zacks Rank is a proprietary stock-rating model that harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions, or changes to a company's earnings expectations, to help investors build a successful portfolio.
#1 (Strong Buy) stocks have produced an unmatched +23.7% average annual return since 1988, which is more than double the S&P 500's performance over the same time frame. However, the Zacks Rank examines a ton of stocks, and there can be more than 200 companies with a Strong Buy rank, and another 600 with a #2 (Buy) rank, on any given day.
With more than 800 top-rated stocks to choose from, it can certainly feel overwhelming to pick the ones that are right for you and your investing journey.
That's where the Style Scores come in.
To have the best chance of big returns, you'll want to always consider stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 that also have Style Scores of A or B, which will give you the highest probability of success. If you're looking at stocks with a #3 (Hold) rank, it's important they have Scores of A or B as well to ensure as much upside potential as possible.
As mentioned above, the Scores are designed to work with the Zacks Rank, so any change to a company's earnings outlook should be a deciding factor when picking which stocks to buy.
Here's an example: a stock with a #4 (Sell) or #5 (Strong Sell) rating, even one with Style Scores of A and B, still has a downward-trending earnings outlook, and a bigger chance its share price will decrease too.
Thus, the more stocks you own with a #1 or #2 Rank and Scores of A or B, the better.
Stock to Watch: Cognizant (CTSH - Free Report) Headquartered in Teaneck, NJ, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation is a leading professional services company. The company was spun off from Dun & Bradstreet in 1996 and went public in 1998.
CTSH is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of A.
It also boasts a Value Style Score of A thanks to attractive valuation metrics like a forward P/E ratio of 9.34; value investors should take notice.
Six analysts revised their earnings estimate upwards in the last 60 days for fiscal 2026. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.04 to $5.70 per share. CTSH boasts an average earnings surprise of +4.8%.
With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Value and VGM Style Scores, CTSH should be on investors' short list.
Recognition reflects more than 30 Cognizant-powered Pega Blueprint deployments across banking and capital markets, insurance, healthcare and life sciences, demonstrating the ability to compress transformation timelines from months to days.
, /PRNewswire/ -- Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH) announced today it has been recognized with the Blueprint Pioneer Award at PegaWorld 2026 by Pegasystems Inc., the enterprise AI software company for mission-critical work. The award recognizes Cognizant's mastery and innovation in leveraging Pega Blueprint™ across more than 30 enterprise deployments to help clients advance from AI experimentation to production outcomes.
Many enterprises remain stuck in AI pilots that don't scale. Closing the gap between AI capability and production value often depends on the context. Embedded industry knowledge, human-AI handshake in workflows and operational discipline are key factors in making AI work effectively in the real conditions of an enterprise. The Blueprint Pioneer Award recognizes Cognizant for that work.
The recognition builds on the strategic collaboration the two companies expanded in May 2025, when Cognizant and Pega extended their two-decade partnership to bring AI-led transformation to enterprise legacy modernization. That collaboration integrates Cognizant's agentic AI services with Pega Blueprint to help joint clients reimagine workflow-heavy legacy systems and accelerate cloud-ready transformation.
"Just dropping AI into a complex enterprise environment will never deliver at enterprise scale," said Prashant Gaonkar, SVP, Enterprise Platforms, Cognizant. "Pega Blueprint is powerful because it is infused with deep industry knowledge, human-AI handshake in workflows and operational discipline. That is the AI Builder approach in practice, and it is the work this award recognizes."
Cognizant-powered Pega Blueprint is in active deployment across banking and capital markets, insurance, healthcare and life sciences. The work follows a two-phase model that operationalizes the AI Builder approach. In the first phase, Cognizant produces an initial Blueprint to demonstrate what is possible for a given business function. In the second, client-specific knowledge, rules and Cognizant process IP are layered in, secured in the client's environment and used to enable scaled delivery.
"Congratulations to Cognizant for receiving the Blueprint Pioneer Award," said Dan Kasun, Global Head of Partner Ecosystem, Pega. "This achievement demonstrates exceptional mastery and innovation in leveraging Pega Blueprint™ throughout the entire sales and delivery cycle. We look forward to our continued collaboration."
In one example, Cognizant tailored its standard healthcare Blueprints to a client's specific operational context, modernizing a complex legacy workflow into an integrated, end-to-end process. Built-in compliance checkpoints, pre-mapped process steps and reusable IP from prior client engagements help drive quality and consistency across new deployments.
Cognizant is showcasing its Pega Blueprint-driven industry solutions at PegaWorld 2026 in Las Vegas, where Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar S will join Pega Founder and CEO Alan Trefler on the mainstage for a conversation on the future of agentic AI in enterprise transformation.
For more information about Cognizant's partnership with Pega, visit Cognizant's Pega Platform Services and watch a recorded conversation between Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar S and Pega Founder and CEO Alan Trefler.
About Cognizant
Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH) is an AI Builder and technology services provider, bridging the gap between AI investment and enterprise value by building full-stack AI solutions for our clients. Our deep industry, process and engineering expertise enables us to build an organization's unique context into technology systems that amplify human potential, drive tangible outcomes and keep global enterprises ahead in a fast-changing world. See how at www.cognizant.ai or @cognizant.
Global professional services leader will leverage embedded AI to enhance hiring experiences and scale recruiting across 60+ countries
, /PRNewswire/ -- Cognizant, a leading global professional services company and longstanding Oracle partner, has selected Oracle Fusion Cloud Recruiting, part of Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management (HCM), to help power a more AI-driven approach to talent acquisition. With Oracle Recruiting, Cognizant aims to transform its talent acquisition journey, improve hiring efficiency, and scale recruiting operations to support its global workforce.
Cognizant is one of the world's leading AI Builder and technology service providers helping clients modernize technology, reimagine processes, and transform experiences to stay ahead in a fast-changing world. With operations in over 60 countries and plans to grow its 350,000+ global workforce, Cognizant required a more advanced recruiting platform to support its changing talent needs. After careful evaluation, Cognizant selected Oracle Recruiting for its embedded AI capabilities, flexibility to build and extend AI across systems, global scalability, and support for both standardized and geo-specific hiring processes.
"The candidate experience is often the first interaction people have with our organization, and we needed a recruiting platform that could deliver a more seamless and engaging experience while giving us the flexibility to build AI capabilities that align with our business objectives. Oracle stood out for its ability to deliver all of this within a unified platform," said Roshan Subudhi, senior vice president, Enterprise Platform Services, Cognizant.
With Oracle Recruiting, Cognizant will be able to leverage embedded AI and automation to streamline recruiting workflows and deliver more personalized, efficient hiring experiences. Cognizant also plans to leverage Oracle AI Agent Studio, a complete development platform for building, connecting, and managing AI agents and agentic applications, to build custom AI agents tailored to its unique business processes.
"Organizations with a vast footprint like Cognizant need AI-powered solutions that can scale globally and help them build a future workforce," said Nagaraj Nadendla, senior vice president, HCM product development, Oracle. "With Oracle Recruiting, Cognizant can take advantage of a unified recruiting platform with embedded AI to improve hiring efficiency, enhance candidate engagement, and support its long-term growth."
Oracle Recruiting, together with Oracle Recruiting Booster, help organizations enhance the candidate experience, grow talent pools, drive internal mobility, and streamline the hiring process through embedded AI and automation. To learn more about Oracle Recruiting and Oracle Recruiting Booster, visit oracle.com/human-capital-management/recruiting/
About Cognizant
Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH) is an AI Builder and technology services provider, bridging the gap between AI investment and enterprise value by building full-stack AI solutions for our clients. Our deep industry, process and engineering expertise enables us to build an organization's unique context into technology systems that amplify human potential, drive tangible outcomes and keep global enterprises ahead in a fast-changing world. See how at www.cognizant.com or @cognizant.
About Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications
Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications provide an integrated suite of AI-powered cloud applications that enable organizations to execute faster, make smarter decisions, and lower costs. Oracle Fusion Applications include:
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): Provides a comprehensive suite of AI-powered finance and operations applications that help organizations increase productivity, reduce costs, expand insights, improve decision-making, and enhance controls. Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management (HCM): Provides a unified AI-powered HR platform that connects people, processes, and data to help organizations automate the employee lifecycle, enhance the employee experience, and drive better business outcomes with a human-agent workforce. Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain & Manufacturing (SCM): Provides a unified AI-powered platform that integrates supply chain and operations processes and helps organizations enhance resilience and quickly adapt to market changes. Oracle Fusion Cloud Customer Experience (CX): Provides a suite of AI-powered applications that help organizations manage marketing, sales, and service processes to win business, build stronger customer relationships, and improve customer experiences. About Oracle
Oracle offers integrated suites of applications plus secure, autonomous infrastructure in the Oracle Cloud. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at www.oracle.com.
Trademarks
Oracle, Java, MySQL, and NetSuite are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation. NetSuite was the first cloud company—ushering in the new era of cloud computing.
It doesn't matter your age or experience: taking full advantage of the stock market and investing with confidence are common goals for all investors. Luckily, Zacks Premium offers several different ways to do both.
Featuring daily updates of the Zacks Rank and Zacks Industry Rank, full access to the Zacks #1 Rank List, Equity Research reports, and Premium stock screens, the research service can help you become a smarter, more self-assured investor.
Zacks Premium also includes the Zacks Style Scores.
What are the Zacks Style Scores? The Zacks Style Scores, developed alongside the Zacks Rank, are complementary indicators that rate stocks based on three widely-followed investing methodologies; they also help investors pick stocks with the best chances of beating the market over the next 30 days.
Each stock is given an alphabetic rating of A, B, C, D or F based on their value, growth, and momentum qualities. With this system, an A is better than a B, a B is better than a C, and so on, meaning the better the score, the better chance the stock will outperform.
The Style Scores are broken down into four categories:
Value ScoreFor value investors, it's all about finding good stocks at good prices, and discovering which companies are trading under their true value before the broader market catches on. The Value Style Score utilizes ratios like P/E, PEG, Price/Sales, Price/Cash Flow, and a host of other multiples to help pick out the most attractive and discounted stocks.
Growth ScoreGrowth investors are more concerned with a stock's future prospects, and the overall financial health and strength of a company. Thus, the Growth Style Score analyzes characteristics like projected and historic earnings, sales, and cash flow to find stocks that will see sustainable growth over time.
Momentum ScoreMomentum trading is all about taking advantage of upward or downward trends in a stock's price or earnings outlook, and these investors live by the saying "the trend is your friend." The Momentum Style Score can pinpoint good times to build a position in a stock, using factors like one-week price change and the monthly percentage change in earnings estimates.
VGM ScoreIf you like to use all three kinds of investing, then the VGM Score is for you. It's a combination of all Style Scores, and is an important indicator to use with the Zacks Rank. The VGM Score rates each stock on their shared weighted styles, narrowing down the companies with the most attractive value, best growth forecast, and most promising momentum.
How Style Scores Work with the Zacks Rank The Zacks Rank, which is a proprietary stock-rating model, employs earnings estimate revisions, or changes to a company's earnings expectations, to make building a winning portfolio easier.
Investors can count on the Zacks Rank's success, with #1 (Strong Buy) stocks producing an unmatched +24% average annual return since 1988, more than double the S&P 500's performance. But the model rates a large number of stocks, and there are over 200 companies with a Strong Buy rank, plus another 600 with a #2 (Buy) rank, on any given day.
But it can feel overwhelming to pick the right stocks for you and your investing goals with over 800 top-rated stocks to choose from.
That's where the Style Scores come in.
To have the best chance of big returns, you'll want to always consider stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 that also have Style Scores of A or B, which will give you the highest probability of success. If you're looking at stocks with a #3 (Hold) rank, it's important they have Scores of A or B as well to ensure as much upside potential as possible.
As mentioned above, the Scores are designed to work with the Zacks Rank, so any change to a company's earnings outlook should be a deciding factor when picking which stocks to buy.
Here's an example: a stock with a #4 (Sell) or #5 (Strong Sell) rating, even one with Style Scores of A and B, still has a downward-trending earnings outlook, and a bigger chance its share price will decrease too.
Thus, the more stocks you own with a #1 or #2 Rank and Scores of A or B, the better.
Stock to Watch: Cognizant (CTSH - Free Report) Headquartered in Teaneck, NJ, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation is a leading professional services company. The company was spun off from Dun & Bradstreet in 1996 and went public in 1998.
CTSH is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of A.
Additionally, the company could be a top pick for growth investors. CTSH has a Growth Style Score of B, forecasting year-over-year earnings growth of 8% for the current fiscal year.
For fiscal 2026, seven analysts revised their earnings estimate upwards in the last 60 days, and the Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.05 to $5.70 per share. CTSH boasts an average earnings surprise of +4.8%.
With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Growth and VGM Style Scores, CTSH should be on investors' short list.
Synopsys (SNPS) is rated a Buy with a $519.12 12-month price target, reflecting derisked China headwinds and Ansys-driven growth. China-related revenue disruptions are fully factored into guidance, offering pure upside if conditions improve, while downside is limited. The Ansys acquisition expands SNPS's TAM by 1.5x and accelerates integration of multiphysics simulation, enhancing cross-selling and competitive positioning.
Synopsys (SNPS) has positioned itself as a dominant EDA software provider, further strengthened by the Ansys acquisition and structural AI tailwinds. The Ansys deal expands SNPS's TAM by 63% to $31B, enabling integrated chip-to-system simulation and reinforcing its competitive moat. Despite a forward P/E of ~35.8, SNPS's compounding EPS growth, high margins, and visible catalysts justify a long-term Quality Growth thesis.
April 09, 2026 17:00 ET | Source: BellRing Brands, Inc.
ST. LOUIS, April 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BellRing Brands, Inc. (NYSE:BRBR) today announced it will release its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2026 and its fiscal year 2026 outlook on May 5, 2026 at 7:00 a.m. ET. The release will be followed by a conference call at 8:30 a.m. ET to discuss the results and outlook. Darcy H. Davenport, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Paul A. Rode, Chief Financial Officer, will participate in the call.
Interested parties may join the conference call by registering in advance at the following link: BellRing Q2 2026 Earnings Conference Call. Upon registration, participants will receive a dial-in number and a unique passcode to access the conference call. Interested parties are invited to listen to the webcast of the conference call, which can be accessed by visiting the Investor Relations section of BellRing’s website at www.bellring.com. A webcast replay also will be available for a limited period on BellRing’s website in the Investor Relations section.
About BellRing Brands, Inc.
BellRing Brands, Inc. (NYSE: BRBR) is a dynamic and fast-growing consumer brands business with the purpose of Changing Lives with Good Energy. Focused on growing the proactive wellness category, the company’s brands include Premier Protein, the #1 ready-to-drink protein and proactive wellness brand, and Dymatize, the brand behind the #1 hydrolyzed protein powder. A culture-driven, pure-play company, BellRing Brands believes nutrition is at the core of a healthy world and produces products with best-in-class nutritional profiles and exceptional flavors. Its products are distributed in over 90 countries across club, mass, food, eCommerce, specialty, drug and convenience. To learn more visit www.bellring.com.
Contact:
Investor Relations
Jennifer Meyer [email protected]
(415) 814-9388
In the latest trading session, BellRing Brands (BRBR - Free Report) closed at $15.01, marking a -2.53% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.11% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.56%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.35%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the nutritional supplements company had lost 7.95% lagged the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 2.74% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.51%.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of BellRing Brands in its upcoming release. The company plans to announce its earnings on May 5, 2026. The company is forecasted to report an EPS of $0.31, showcasing a 41.51% downward movement from the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $607.37 million, up 3.29% from the prior-year quarter.
For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.88 per share and a revenue of $2.41 billion, representing changes of -13.36% and +4.1%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for BellRing Brands. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.
Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.29% lower. BellRing Brands is currently a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that BellRing Brands has a Forward P/E ratio of 8.18 right now. This denotes a discount relative to the industry average Forward P/E of 13.93.
Also, we should mention that BRBR has a PEG ratio of 3.04. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. The average PEG ratio for the Food - Miscellaneous industry stood at 2.52 at the close of the market yesterday.
The Food - Miscellaneous industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 206, positioning it in the bottom 16% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.
WHAT IS HAPPENING? Grabar Law Office is investigating claims on behalf of shareholders of BellRing Brands, Inc. (NYSE: BRBR). The investigation concerns whether certain officers and directors breached the fiduciary duties they owed to the company.
If you purchased BellRing Brands, Inc. (NYSE: BRBR) shares prior to October 1, 2024, and still hold shares today, you can seek corporate reforms, the return of funds back to the company, and a court approved incentive award at no cost to you whatsoever. You are encouraged to visit https://grabarlaw.com/the-latest/bellring-shareholder-investigation/, contact Joshua Grabar at [email protected], or call 267-507-6085.
WHY? As alleged in a recently filed federal securities fraud class action complaint, BellRing Brands, Inc. (NYSE: BRBR), through certain of its officers, made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants misrepresented and/or failed to disclose that: (1) customers accumulated excess inventory as a safeguard from product shortages Bellring’s supply had previously faced; (2) once customers were confident that the product shortages were resolved, they reduced inventory and cut back on new orders; and (3) as a result of the foregoing, Defendants’ statements about the company’s business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.
WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW? If you purchased BellRing Brands, Inc. (NYSE: BRBR) shares prior to October 1, 2024, and still hold shares today, you are encouraged to visit https://grabarlaw.com/the-latest/bellring-shareholder-investigation/, contact Joshua Grabar at [email protected], or call 267-507-6085. You can seek corporate reforms, the return of funds back to the company, and a court approved incentive award at no cost to you whatsoever.
$BRBR #BRBR #BellRing
COTY INC. (NYSE: COTY):
WHAT IS HAPPENING? Grabar Law Office is investigating claims on behalf of shareholders of Coty Inc. (NYSE: COTY). The investigation concerns whether certain officers and directors breached the fiduciary duties they owed to the company.
If you purchased Coty Inc. (NYSE: COTY) shares prior to November 5, 2025, and still hold shares today, you can seek corporate reforms, the return of funds back to the company, and a court approved incentive award at no cost to you whatsoever through a shareholder governance action. Alternatively, if you purchased Coty shares between November 5, 2025, through February 4, 2026, you can participate in the class action. Please visit https://grabarlaw.com/the-latest/coty-investigation/, contact Joshua Grabar at [email protected], or call 267-507-6085 to learn. more.
WHY? As alleged in a recently filed federal securities fraud class action complaint, Coty, Inc. (NYSE: COTY), through certain of its officers, made false statements and/or failed to disclose to investors that: (1) Defendants overwhelmingly positive statements regarding Coty’s growth and profitability prospects for fiscal year 2026 were false when made; (2) Coty’s growth in the beauty market was slowing, including underperformance in its Consumer Beauty segment; (3) The Company’s margins were being pressured by increased marketing expenditures; (4) Growth in Coty’s Prestige fragrance segment was decelerating; and (5) As a result, Defendants’ statements about Coty’s business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW? If you purchased Coty Inc. (NYSE: COTY) shares prior to November 5, 2025, and still hold shares today, you are encouraged to visit https://grabarlaw.com/the-latest/coty-investigation/, contact Joshua Grabar at [email protected], or call 267-507-6085. You can seek corporate reforms, the return of funds back to the company, and a court approved incentive award at no cost to you whatsoever. Alternatively, if you purchased Coty shares between November 5, 2025, through February 4, 2026, you can participate in the class action.
#COTY $COTY
e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE: ELF) -Securities Fraud Class Action Survives Motion to Dismiss:
WHAT IS HAPPENING? Grabar Law Office is investigating claims on behalf of long-term e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE: ELF) shareholders as key allegations in an underlying securities fraud class action complaint have survived a motion to dismiss. The investigation concerns whether certain officers of the company have breached their fiduciary duties they owed to the company.
If you have held e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE: ELF) shares since prior to February 7, 2024, visit https://grabarlaw.com/the-latest/elf-shareholder-investigation/, contact Joshua H. Grabar at [email protected], or call 267-507-6085. You can seek corporate reforms, the return of funds back to the Company, and a court approved incentive award at no cost you whatsoever.
WHY? Key allegations of a federal securities fraud class action filed against e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE: ELF) and certain of its Officers have now survived a motion to dismiss. That complaint alleges that (i) Defendants had been concealing declining demand, particularly in its untracked channels like Ulta Beauty; (ii) ELF had ballooned its inventory to more than $200 million worth of product because it was not able to sell its goods at the rates it promised; and (iii) ELF had failed to produce successful innovations in the latter half of 2024, despite reassuring the market during that time frame that their innovations were spurring strong growth.
On February 4, 2026, a Federal Court determined that the underlying complaint, as to certain allegations, “plausibly alleges all elements of a securities fraud claim.”
WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW? If you have held e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE: ELF) shares since prior to February 7, 2024, you can seek corporate reforms, the return of funds back to the Company, and a court approved incentive award at no cost you whatsoever. Visit https://grabarlaw.com/the-latest/elf-shareholder-investigation/, contact Joshua H. Grabar at [email protected], or call 267-507-6085 to learn more.
#ELF #elfBeauty $ELF
POWER SOLUTIONS INTERNATIONAL, INC. (NASDAQ: PSIX):
WHAT IS HAPPENING? Grabar Law Office is investigating claims on behalf of shareholders of Power Solutions International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PSIX). The investigation concerns whether Power Solutions and certain of its executives breached their fiduciary duties.
If you purchased Power Solutions International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PSIX) shares prior to May 8, 2025, please visit https://grabarlaw.com/the-latest/psix-shareholder-investigation/, contact Joshua H. Grabar at [email protected], or call 267-507-6085. You can seek corporate reforms, the return of funds back to the Company, and a court approved incentive award at no cost you whatsoever. Alternatively, if you purchased or acquired your shares between May 8, 2025, through March 2, 2026, you may be able to participate in this securities fraud class action.
WHY? According to a recently filed federal securities fraud class action complaint, Power Solutions (NASDAQ: PSIX); through certain of its officers, failed to disclose to investors: (1) the Company overstated its ability to capture sales demand for its power systems solutions, particularly within the data center market; (2) the Company understated the impact of its enhancements to manufacturing capacity to meet demand within the data center market, including the expected costs and the nature of the related “inefficiencies”; and (3) that, as a result of the foregoing, Defendants’ positive statements about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.
WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW? If you purchased or otherwise acquired Power Solutions International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PSIX) securities prior to May 8, 2025, you can seek corporate reforms, the return of funds back to the Company, and a court approved incentive award at no cost you whatsoever. Visit https://grabarlaw.com/the-latest/psix-shareholder-investigation/, contact Joshua H. Grabar at [email protected], or call 267-507-6085 to learn more. Alternatively, if you purchased or acquired your shares between May 8, 2025, through March 2, 2026, you may be able to participate in this securities fraud class action.
#PSIX $PSIX #PowerSolutions
Attorney Advertising Disclaimer
Contact:
Joshua H. Grabar, Esq.
Grabar Law Office
One Liberty Place
1650 Market Street, Suite 3600
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Tel: 267-507-6085
Email: [email protected]
In the latest trading session, BellRing Brands (BRBR - Free Report) closed at $16.23, marking a +1.76% move from the previous day. The stock exceeded the S&P 500, which registered a gain of 0.26% for the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.24%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.36%.
Shares of the nutritional supplements company have depreciated by 8.28% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 3.14%, and the S&P 500's gain of 5.98%.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of BellRing Brands in its upcoming release. The company plans to announce its earnings on May 5, 2026. On that day, BellRing Brands is projected to report earnings of $0.31 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 41.51%. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $607.37 million, indicating a 3.29% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.87 per share and revenue of $2.41 billion, which would represent changes of -13.82% and +4.1%, respectively, from the prior year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for BellRing Brands should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the business performance and profit potential.
Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.82% lower within the past month. BellRing Brands is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).
In terms of valuation, BellRing Brands is presently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 8.51. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 13.73.
Investors should also note that BRBR has a PEG ratio of 5.13 right now. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The Food - Miscellaneous industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.56 as of yesterday's close.
The Food - Miscellaneous industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 202, positioning it in the bottom 18% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - April 20, 2026) - Kuehn Law, PLLC, a shareholder litigation law firm, is investigating whether certain officers and directors of BellRing Brands, Inc. (NYSE: BRBR) breached their fiduciary duties to shareholders.
According to a federal securities lawsuit, Insiders at BellRing Brands caused the company to misrepresent or fail to disclose that BellRing's reported sales were materially attributable to temporary inventory stockpiling by several of its key customers, which concealed the erosion of the Company's market share as competition intensified. Contrary to repeated representations, the strong sales results did not reflect increased end-consumer demand or brand momentum. Instead, customers accumulated excess inventory as a safeguard against product shortages that had previously constrained BellRing's supply.
If you currently own BRBR and purchased prior to November 19, 2024 please contact Justin Kuehn, Esq. by email at [email protected] or call (833) 672-0814. Kuehn Law pays all case costs and does not charge its investor clients. Shareholders should contact the firm immediately as there may be limited time to enforce your rights.
Why Your Participation Matters:
As a shareholder your voice matters, and by getting involved, you contribute to the integrity and fairness of the financial markets. Your investment. Your voice. Your future.™
WHAT IS HAPPENING? Grabar Law Office is investigating claims on behalf of shareholders of BellRing Brands, Inc. (NYSE: BRBR). The investigation concerns whether certain officers and directors breached the fiduciary duties they owed to the company.
If you purchased BellRing Brands, Inc. (NYSE: BRBR) shares prior to October 1, 2024, and still hold shares today, you can seek corporate reforms, the return of funds back to the company, and a court approved incentive award at no cost to you whatsoever. You are encouraged to visit https://grabarlaw.com/the-latest/bellring-shareholder-investigation/, contact Joshua Grabar at [email protected], or call 267-507-6085.
WHY? As alleged in a recently filed federal securities fraud class action complaint, BellRing Brands, Inc. (NYSE: BRBR), through certain of its officers, made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants misrepresented and/or failed to disclose that: (1) customers accumulated excess inventory as a safeguard from product shortages Bellring’s supply had previously faced; (2) once customers were confident that the product shortages were resolved, they reduced inventory and cut back on new orders; and (3) as a result of the foregoing, Defendants’ statements about the company’s business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.
WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW? If you purchased BellRing Brands, Inc. (NYSE: BRBR) shares prior to October 1, 2024, and still hold shares today, you are encouraged to visit https://grabarlaw.com/the-latest/bellring-shareholder-investigation/, contact Joshua Grabar at [email protected], or call 267-507-6085. You can seek corporate reforms, the return of funds back to the company, and a court approved incentive award at no cost to you whatsoever.
$BRBR #BRBR #BellRing
COTY INC. (NYSE: COTY):
WHAT IS HAPPENING? Grabar Law Office is investigating claims on behalf of shareholders of Coty Inc. (NYSE: COTY). The investigation concerns whether certain officers and directors breached the fiduciary duties they owed to the company.
If you purchased Coty Inc. (NYSE: COTY) shares prior to November 5, 2025, and still hold shares today, you can seek corporate reforms, the return of funds back to the company, and a court approved incentive award at no cost to you whatsoever through a shareholder governance action. Alternatively, if you purchased Coty shares between November 5, 2025, through February 4, 2026, you can participate in the class action. Please visit https://grabarlaw.com/the-latest/coty-investigation/, contact Joshua Grabar at [email protected], or call 267-507-6085 to learn. more.
WHY? As alleged in a recently filed federal securities fraud class action complaint, Coty, Inc. (NYSE: COTY), through certain of its officers, made false statements and/or failed to disclose to investors that: (1) Defendants overwhelmingly positive statements regarding Coty’s growth and profitability prospects for fiscal year 2026 were false when made; (2) Coty’s growth in the beauty market was slowing, including underperformance in its Consumer Beauty segment; (3) The Company’s margins were being pressured by increased marketing expenditures; (4) Growth in Coty’s Prestige fragrance segment was decelerating; and (5) As a result, Defendants’ statements about Coty’s business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW? If you purchased Coty Inc. (NYSE: COTY) shares prior to November 5, 2025, and still hold shares today, you are encouraged to visit https://grabarlaw.com/the-latest/coty-investigation/, contact Joshua Grabar at [email protected], or call 267-507-6085. You can seek corporate reforms, the return of funds back to the company, and a court approved incentive award at no cost to you whatsoever. Alternatively, if you purchased Coty shares between November 5, 2025, through February 4, 2026, you can participate in the class action.
#COTY $COTY
E.L.F. BEAUTY, INC. (NYSE: ELF) -SECURITIES FRAUD CLASS ACTION SURVIVES MOTION TO DISMISS:
WHAT IS HAPPENING? Grabar Law Office is investigating claims on behalf of long-term e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (NYSE: ELF) shareholders as key allegations in an underlying securities fraud class action complaint have survived a motion to dismiss. The investigation concerns whether certain officers of the company have breached their fiduciary duties they owed to the company.
If you have held e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE: ELF) shares since prior to February 7, 2024, visit https://grabarlaw.com/the-latest/elf-shareholder-investigation/, contact Joshua H. Grabar at [email protected], or call 267-507-6085. You can seek corporate reforms, the return of funds back to the Company, and a court approved incentive award at no cost you whatsoever.
WHY? Key allegations of a federal securities fraud class action complaint filed against e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE: ELF) and certain of its Officers have survived a motion to dismiss. That complaint alleges that (i) Defendants had been concealing declining demand, particularly in its untracked channels like Ulta Beauty; (ii) ELF had ballooned its inventory to more than $200 million worth of product because it was not able to sell its goods at the rates it promised; and (iii) ELF had failed to produce successful innovations in the latter half of 2024, despite reassuring the market during that time frame that their innovations were spurring strong growth.
On February 4, 2026, a Federal Court determined that the underlying complaint, as to certain allegations, “plausibly alleges all elements of a securities fraud claim.”
WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW? If you have held e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE: ELF) shares since prior to February 7, 2024, you can seek corporate reforms, the return of funds back to the Company, and a court approved incentive award at no cost you whatsoever. Visit https://grabarlaw.com/the-latest/elf-shareholder-investigation/, contact Joshua H. Grabar at [email protected], or call 267-507-6085 to learn more.
#ELF #elfBeauty $ELF
POWER SOLUTIONS INTERNATIONAL, INC. (NASDAQ: PSIX):
WHAT IS HAPPENING? Grabar Law Office is investigating claims on behalf of shareholders of Power Solutions International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PSIX). The investigation concerns whether Power Solutions and certain of its executives breached their fiduciary duties.
If you purchased Power Solutions International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PSIX) shares prior to May 8, 2025, please visit https://grabarlaw.com/the-latest/psix-shareholder-investigation/, contact Joshua H. Grabar at [email protected], or call 267-507-6085. You can seek corporate reforms, the return of funds back to the Company, and a court approved incentive award at no cost you whatsoever. Alternatively, if you purchased or acquired your shares between May 8, 2025, through March 2, 2026, you may be able to participate in this securities fraud class action.
WHY? According to a recently filed federal securities fraud class action complaint, Power Solutions (NASDAQ: PSIX); through certain of its officers, failed to disclose to investors: (1) the Company overstated its ability to capture sales demand for its power systems solutions, particularly within the data center market; (2) the Company understated the impact of its enhancements to manufacturing capacity to meet demand within the data center market, including the expected costs and the nature of the related “inefficiencies”; and (3) that, as a result of the foregoing, Defendants’ positive statements about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.
WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW? If you purchased or otherwise acquired Power Solutions International, Inc. (NASDAQ: PSIX) securities prior to May 8, 2025, you can seek corporate reforms, the return of funds back to the Company, and a court approved incentive award at no cost you whatsoever. Visit https://grabarlaw.com/the-latest/psix-shareholder-investigation/, contact Joshua H. Grabar at [email protected], or call 267-507-6085 to learn more. Alternatively, if you purchased or acquired your shares between May 8, 2025, through March 2, 2026, you may be able to participate in this securities fraud class action.
#PSIX $PSIX #PowerSolutions
Attorney Advertising Disclaimer
Contact:
Joshua H. Grabar, Esq.
Grabar Law Office
One Liberty Place
1650 Market Street, Suite 3600
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Tel: 267-507-6085
Email: [email protected]
Wall Street expects a year-over-year decline in earnings on higher revenues when BellRing Brands (BRBR - Free Report) reports results for the quarter ended March 2026. While this widely-known consensus outlook is important in gauging the company's earnings picture, a powerful factor that could impact its near-term stock price is how the actual results compare to these estimates.
The stock might move higher if these key numbers top expectations in the upcoming earnings report, which is expected to be released on May 5. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.
While the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call, it's worth handicapping the probability of a positive EPS surprise.
Zacks Consensus EstimateThis nutritional supplements company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.31 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -41.5%.
Revenues are expected to be $607.69 million, up 3.4% from the year-ago quarter.
Estimate Revisions TrendThe consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 0.71% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.
Investors should keep in mind that the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts may not always get reflected in the aggregate change.
Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Earnings WhisperEstimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. Our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) -- has this insight at its core.
The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier.
Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only.
A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP.
Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell).
How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for BellRing Brands?For BellRing Brands, the Most Accurate Estimate is lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bearish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of -0.40%.
On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #4.
So, this combination makes it difficult to conclusively predict that BellRing Brands will beat the consensus EPS estimate.
Does Earnings Surprise History Hold Any Clue?Analysts often consider to what extent a company has been able to match consensus estimates in the past while calculating their estimates for its future earnings. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number.
For the last reported quarter, it was expected that BellRing Brands would post earnings of $0.31 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.37, delivering a surprise of +19.35%.
Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates two times.
Bottom LineAn earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss.
That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.
BellRing Brands doesn't appear a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release.
An Industry Player's Expected ResultsAnother stock from the Zacks Food - Miscellaneous industry, Darling Ingredients (DAR - Free Report) , is soon expected to post earnings of $0.55 per share for the quarter ended March 2026. This estimate indicates a year-over-year change of +443.8%. Revenues for the quarter are expected to be $1.56 billion, up 12.7% from the year-ago quarter.
The consensus EPS estimate for Darling has been revised 4.6% higher over the last 30 days to the current level. However, a lower Most Accurate Estimate has resulted in an Earnings ESP of -7.69%.
This Earnings ESP, combined with its Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), makes it difficult to conclusively predict that Darling will beat the consensus EPS estimate. Over the last four quarters, the company surpassed EPS estimates just once.
Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.
The market expects Kraft Heinz (KHC - Free Report) to deliver a year-over-year decline in earnings on lower revenues when it reports results for the quarter ended March 2026. This widely-known consensus outlook is important in assessing the company's earnings picture, but a powerful factor that might influence its near-term stock price is how the actual results compare to these estimates.
The earnings report, which is expected to be released on May 6, might help the stock move higher if these key numbers are better than expectations. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.
While management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call will mostly determine the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations, it's worth having a handicapping insight into the odds of a positive EPS surprise.
Zacks Consensus EstimateThis processed food company with dual headquarters in Pittsburgh and Chicago is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.50 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -19.4%.
Revenues are expected to be $5.91 billion, down 1.5% from the year-ago quarter.
Estimate Revisions TrendThe consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 0.06% higher over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.
Investors should keep in mind that an aggregate change may not always reflect the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts.
Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Earnings WhisperEstimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. This insight is at the core of our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction).
The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier.
Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only.
A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP.
Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell).
How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for Kraft Heinz?For Kraft Heinz, the Most Accurate Estimate is higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bullish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of +3.08%.
On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #3.
So, this combination indicates that Kraft Heinz will most likely beat the consensus EPS estimate.
Does Earnings Surprise History Hold Any Clue?Analysts often consider to what extent a company has been able to match consensus estimates in the past while calculating their estimates for its future earnings. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number.
For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Kraft Heinz would post earnings of $0.61 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.67, delivering a surprise of +9.84%.
Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates four times.
Bottom LineAn earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss.
That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.
Kraft Heinz appears a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release.
An Industry Player's Expected ResultsAmong the stocks in the Zacks Food - Miscellaneous industry, BellRing Brands (BRBR - Free Report) , is soon expected to post earnings of $0.31 per share for the quarter ended March 2026. This estimate indicates a year-over-year change of -41.5%. This quarter's revenue is expected to be $607.69 million, up 3.4% from the year-ago quarter.
The consensus EPS estimate for BellRing Brands has been revised 0.7% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. However, a lower Most Accurate Estimate has resulted in an Earnings ESP of -0.40%.
When combined with a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell), this Earnings ESP makes it difficult to conclusively predict that BellRing Brands will beat the consensus EPS estimate. Over the last four quarters, the company surpassed consensus EPS estimates two times.
Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.
NEW YORK, April 29, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kuehn Law, PLLC, a shareholder litigation law firm, is investigating whether certain officers and directors of BellRing Brands, Inc. (NYSE: BRBR) breached their fiduciary duties to shareholders.
According to a federal securities lawsuit, Insiders at BellRing Brands caused the company to misrepresent or fail to disclose that BellRing’s reported sales were materially attributable to temporary inventory stockpiling by several of its key customers, which concealed the erosion of the Company’s market share as competition intensified. Contrary to repeated representations, the strong sales results did not reflect increased end-consumer demand or brand momentum. Instead, customers accumulated excess inventory as a safeguard against product shortages that had previously constrained BellRing’s supply.
If you currently own BRBR and purchased prior to November 19, 2024 please contact Justin Kuehn, Esq. by email at [email protected] or call (833) 672-0814. Kuehn Law pays all case costs and does not charge its investor clients. Shareholders should contact the firm immediately as there may be limited time to enforce your rights.
Why Your Participation Matters:
As a shareholder your voice matters, and by getting involved, you contribute to the integrity and fairness of the financial markets. Your investment. Your voice. Your future.™
BellRing Brands (BRBR - Free Report) ended the recent trading session at $17.80, demonstrating a +1.48% change from the preceding day's closing price. The stock exceeded the S&P 500, which registered a gain of 1.02% for the day. At the same time, the Dow added 1.62%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.89%.
Heading into today, shares of the nutritional supplements company had gained 12.15% over the past month, outpacing the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 1.45% and lagging the S&P 500's gain of 12.23%.
The upcoming earnings release of BellRing Brands will be of great interest to investors. The company's earnings report is expected on May 5, 2026. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $0.31, signifying a 41.51% drop compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $607.69 million, up 3.35% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $1.86 per share and revenue of $2.41 billion. These totals would mark changes of -14.29% and +4%, respectively, from last year.
Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for BellRing Brands. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.
Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 1.26% lower. BellRing Brands presently features a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).
In terms of valuation, BellRing Brands is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 9.43. This represents a discount compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 14.1.
It is also worth noting that BRBR currently has a PEG ratio of 5.68. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. As the market closed yesterday, the Food - Miscellaneous industry was having an average PEG ratio of 2.58.
The Food - Miscellaneous industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 208, finds itself in the bottom 15% echelons of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.
ST. LOUIS, May 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BellRing Brands, Inc. (NYSE:BRBR) (“BellRing”), a holding company operating in the global proactive wellness category, today reported results for the second fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2026.
BellRing Brands (BRBR - Free Report) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.14 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.31 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.53 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.
This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of -54.75%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this nutritional supplements company would post earnings of $0.31 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.37, delivering a surprise of +19.35%.
Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates two times.
BellRing Brands, which belongs to the Zacks Food - Miscellaneous industry, posted revenues of $598.7 million for the quarter ended March 2026, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.48%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $588 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates three times over the last four quarters.
The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.
BellRing Brands shares have lost about 35.1% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 5.2%.
What's Next for BellRing Brands?While BellRing Brands has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?
There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.
Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.
Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for BellRing Brands was unfavorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to underperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.56 on $583.1 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $1.86 on $2.41 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.
Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Food - Miscellaneous is currently in the bottom 15% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.
One other stock from the same industry, Hain Celestial (HAIN - Free Report) , is yet to report results for the quarter ended March 2026. The results are expected to be released on May 11.
This organic and natural products company is expected to post quarterly loss of $0.02 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -128.6%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days.
Hain Celestial's revenues are expected to be $352.88 million, down 9.6% from the year-ago quarter.
Shares of BellRing Brands (BRBR 3.14%) turned sour this morning. After a disappointing Q2 report with a side of sour full-year guidance, the stock crashed as much as 46.9% lower in the morning session. As of 12:46 a.m. ET, BellRing still showed a 42.4% single-day price drop.
Image source: Getty Images.
BellRing's quarter left a bad taste The company behind protein-boosted products PowerBar, Dymatize, and Premier Protein saw 2% year-over-year sales growth in the second quarter of fiscal year 2026. Adjusted earnings fell from $0.53 to $0.14 per share. The analyst consensus had called for 3.5% revenue growth and earnings near $0.32 per share.
Management also lowered BellRing's guidance goals across the board. At the midpoint of each guidance range, full-year sales growth should now stop around 1% (down from 5% three months ago). Adjusted EBITDA should now add up to roughly $325 million in 2026, 25% below the previous guidance of approximately $433 million.
Too many shakes on the shelf BellRing's sales growth was largely built on deep-discount promotions, undermining the company's profit margins and raising questions about organic demand for protein shakes and protein powder. The former Post subsidiary also absorbed higher ingredient costs due to inflation, import tariffs, and higher transportation expenses.
On the earnings call, soon-to-retire CEO Darcy Davenport noted that BellRing is facing a plethora of new competitors in the protein shake market, especially in the warehouse club retail channel. Consumers are hungry for healthy nutrition since GLP-1 weight loss drugs turned up.
"Retailers are going to consolidate the shelf around the most successful brands, and we will be them," Davenport said. "And we will be in that consideration set because we have the highest awareness and repeat household penetration. We are the most well-known brand, both with aided awareness and unaided awareness."
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BellRing's bull thesis is that the company should ride out this storm and come out stronger on the other side. On the other hand, the stock has now crashed 87% in one year and it trades at just 6.8 times trailing earnings.
It's either a fantastic turnaround bet or a dangerous falling knife, and only time will tell which theory is right. I don't mind watching BellRing's protein shake drama from the sidelines.
Anders Bylund has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
HomeIndustriesFood/Beverages/TobaccoEarnings ResultsEarnings ResultsShares of BellRing Brands, the maker of Premier Protein drinks and PowerBar snacks, tumble nearly 40%Last Updated: May 5, 2026 at 6:46 p.m. ET
First Published: May 5, 2026 at 1:42 p.m. ET
Consumers have stampeded toward protein, and food-industry giants are chasing them with new product innovations. But not all companies are realizing the same benefits.
In what could be a sign of tougher things to come for the protein craze, shares of BellRing Brands BRBR — the maker of Premier Protein drinks, PowerBar snack bars and Dymatize protein powder — fell 38.8% on Tuesday, after a concoction of higher costs and competitive price cuts hit its quarterly results and outlook and led to the first slowdown in purchasing trends in several years.
MILWAUKEE, May 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Ademi LLP is investigating possible securities fraud claims against BellRing (NYSE: BRBR). The investigation results from inaccurate statements BellRing may have made regarding its financial statements, business operations and prospects.
Click here to join our investigation or to obtain additional information, or contact us at [email protected] or toll-free: 866-264-3995. There is no cost or obligation to you.
We specialize in securities fraud and shareholder litigation. For more information, please feel free to call us. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
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BellRing Brands posted adjusted EPS of 14 cents, missing market estimates or 32 cents per share. The company's sales came in at $598.700 million, missing expectations of $608.899 million.
BellRing Brands slashed FY2026 sales guidance from $2.410 billion-$2.460 billion to $2.325 billion-$2.365 billion.
BellRing Brands shares fell 1.6% to trade at $10.47 on Wednesday.
These analysts made changes to their price targets on BellRing Brands following earnings announcement.
Morgan Stanley analyst Megan Alexander downgraded the stock from Overweight to Equal-Weight and lowered the price target from $24 to $13. Stifel analyst Matthew Smith maintained the stock with a Buy and lowered the price target from $34 to $14. Bernstein analyst Alexia Howard downgraded BellRing Brands from Outperform to Market Perform and cut the price target from $35 to $11. Considering buying BRBR stock? Here’s what analysts think:
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Wells Fargo’s chief agriculture economist Dr. Michael Swanson told Bloomberg Businessweek on May 29 that GLP-1 weight-loss drugs (Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound) will eventually match statins at roughly 90 million prescriptions, calling the trend “here to stay” because it’s prescribed, not faddish. So this is the next 90-million-customer industry, sitting in plain sight while everyone else stares at AI. It’s the protein-centric food economy being rewired around appetite-suppressed patients who need 90 to 120 grams of protein a day in small volumes.
I’ve been reading every GLP-1 supply-chain report I can find for the better part of two years now, and the five tickers below are where the second-order money is moving while everyone else stares at chatbots.
1. BellRing Brands: The Surprise Pick Hiding in Plain Sight Start with the most unloved name on this list. BellRing Brands (NYSE:BRBR | BRBR Price Prediction) owns Premier Protein, the ready-to-drink shake whose product spec (high protein, low volume, easy on a suppressed appetite) maps almost one-to-one onto what a GLP-1 patient is told to consume. The stock has been crushed on a tariff-driven margin miss, which is exactly why the setup is interesting: the demand side of the thesis is still intact while the price has been gutted.
The Q2 FY2026 report explains both halves of the trade. Premier Protein RTD volume grew 11.7%, household penetration climbed to 21.3%, and total distribution points hit an all-time high with 29% YoY growth. Yet EPS came in at $0.14 versus $0.3132 consensus, gross margin collapsed from 32.3% to 27.0%, and management took an $11.3 million inventory charge on a failed third-party ingredient. Shares are down 69% year-to-date.
Here’s the tell: on March 31, eight directors bought common stock equivalents on the same day at $16.09/share, and Director David Finkelstein went back in on May 13 for 4,000 shares at $9.235. Volume-driven brands with insiders buying the dip don’t stay this beat-up forever. Which brings us to the company that actually creates BRBR’s customers.
2. Eli Lilly: The Engine of the 90-Million Forecast Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) is the company actually manufacturing Swanson’s forecast. Mounjaro and Zepbound are the prescription pads driving the appetite suppression that creates the demand BellRing is feeding. And in May, the FDA approved Foundayo (orforglipron), the only approved GLP-1 pill that can be taken any time of day, without food and water restrictions, which is the bridge from injection-only to statin-style scale.
Q1 FY2026 was the kind of quarter that justifies a near-trillion-dollar market cap. Mounjaro revenue hit $8.66 billion, up 125% YoY. Zepbound U.S. revenue grew 80% to $4.16 billion. Total company revenue jumped 55.5% and management raised the full-year revenue outlook to $82.0 to $85.0 billion. CEO David Ricks said “Foundayo will meaningfully expand the number of people who can benefit from GLP-1s.” That’s a CEO telling you the prescription pool is about to balloon.
The stock is up 30% over the past month and 54% over the past year, trading at a P/E of 39. Buy Lilly IF you believe the pill version pulls GLP-1 use toward Swanson’s 90-million ceiling. The inverse: if oral compliance disappoints, the multiple compresses. There is, however, a second drug company that could collect a check on the same megatrend.
3. Novo Nordisk: The Co-Heavyweight With the Oral Wedge Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO ADR) is the other half of the duopoly. Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus, and as of January 2026 the Wegovy oral pill, plus Wegovy HD launched April 7 with nearly 21% weight loss in trials. NVO has lagged hard, but on a prescription-volume thesis, ignoring it is a mistake.
Q1 FY2026 shows why the stock has stayed in the doghouse and why the demand is still real. Wegovy total franchise hit $18.24 billion, up 12%, while Ozempic fell 8% to $27.83 billion on pricing. The Wegovy oral pill posted $2.26 billion in Q1 sales with over 2 million prescriptions since launch. The wrinkle: a Most-Favored-Nation pricing agreement forces Wegovy and Ozempic U.S. list-price cuts of 50% and 35% in January 2027.
Shares are down 31% over the last year but up 13% over the past month, trading at a P/E of 11 with analyst targets averaging $46.90. Cheap optionality on the same 90-million-prescription wave. Which is also where the food half of the table starts to matter, because every one of those scripts puts pressure on the same dinner plate.
4. Tyson Foods: The Beef-to-Chicken Trade-Down Trade Swanson explicitly named the protein rotation: consumers trading down from beef to chicken and pork, with Texas brisket prices up 28% over the past year. Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) is the single largest publicly traded pure-play on that rotation. Their chicken and prepared foods segments are exactly where a GLP-1 patient who used to splurge on ribeye now lands.
Q2 FY2026 confirms which engine is pulling the train. The Chicken segment delivered $4.286 billion in revenue at a 12.2% adjusted operating margin, and the segment has now posted five consecutive quarters of YoY volume growth. Beef, meanwhile, lost $202 million, and management guides FY2026 Chicken income to $1.9 to $2.05 billion. CEO Donnie King said “protein demand continues to increase, our consistent share gains demonstrate we are well-positioned to capture this momentum.”
USDA projects FY2026 chicken production up about 2%, beef down about 2%, pork up about 2%. Tyson is overweight the protein the consumer is rotating into and the protein the supply chain is producing more of. The stock is up 5% YTD. Decent, but the cleanest punchline on this list is still ahead.
5. Hormel: The Punchline Hiding on the Center Aisle Here’s the payoff. Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) owns Spam, Skippy, Jennie-O turkey, Applegate, Hormel Black Label bacon, Columbus deli, and Planters. Every brand on that list is shelf-stable, protein-dense, and labeled with a grams-of-protein callout. The protein-labeling shift Swanson described as “food packaging across every category prominently featuring protein content” is happening on shelves Hormel already owns. The market is treating this like a tired dividend stock. It’s actually the most accidentally well-positioned brand house in U.S. packaged food.
Q2 FY2026 made the case quietly. Foodservice revenue grew 6.4%, marking the 11th consecutive quarter of organic net sales growth, with adjusted EPS of $0.40 beating $0.3544 consensus and adjusted operating margin expanding to 9.9% from 9.1%. Management is actively pruning low-margin volume, having divested the whole-bird turkey business and sold 51% of Justin’s to concentrate on value-added protein. On March 31, five directors bought stock on the same day at $22.65/share, including the Chairman.
The stock is up 11% over the past month, 9% over the past week, and the company has now strung together 60 consecutive years of dividend increases. Boring is the feature.
The Thread Lilly and Novo write the prescriptions. BellRing fills the shake. Tyson fills the plate. Hormel fills the pantry. If Swanson’s call holds and GLP-1 use scales toward statin-level volumes, every link in that chain reprices off the same demand curve, and four of these five names still trade like the market hasn’t connected them. The headline industry of 2026 was always going to be AI. The quieter one, the one with 90 million customers walking into the pharmacy with a printed script, is already restructuring the food aisle while nobody is looking.
Many investors weren't eager to ring the bell for BellRing Brands (BRBR 3.14%) during Monday's trading session. Shares of the protein products maker slumped by nearly 10%, on news that its stock is being dropped from a high-profile index.
A new blend After market close on Friday, S&P Global announced the latest quarterly rebalancing of its closely followed S&P family of indexes. One of those lineups that will see adjustments is the one BellRing is currently a part of, the S&P MidCap 400 index. The company's stock is one of five being moved and replaced with new arrivals; the four others are Flex, Coty, Concentrix, and Blackbaud. Those four are being shifted to different indexes more appropriate for their current size.
Image source: Getty Images.
The quintet of incoming S&P MidCap 400 stocks comprises Roku, Coeur Mining, Semtech, Sanmina, and Viavi Solutions.
These changes, which, in S&P Global's boilerplate language, are being made to "ensure that each index is more representative of its market capitalization range," will take effect before market open on Monday, June 22.
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Don't lose focus I should stress here that inclusion in, or exclusion from, a famous stock index almost always has little or no impact on a company's fundamental performance. In BellRing's case, however, a skinnier market cap is indicative of its recent struggles, and the reminder is a likely reason for Monday's sell-off.
That said, I'd never buy or sell a stock long-term based on whether it's an index component, and I'd advise anyone looking at BellRing (or any other company affected by S&P Global's periodic adjustments) to focus instead on its performance, strategy, and financial position.
Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Roku, S&P Global, and Viavi Solutions. The Motley Fool recommends Blackbaud and Flex. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Diluted EPS was $1.14. The estimated EPS was $1.06.Total revenue was $1,334.7 million. The estimated revenue was $1,311.68 million.Revenue decreased 2.9% year
For the quarter ended March 2026, Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL - Free Report) reported revenue of $1.33 billion, down 2.9% over the same period last year. EPS came in at $1.14, compared to $1.19 in the year-ago quarter.
The reported revenue represents a surprise of +1.51% over the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.31 billion. With the consensus EPS estimate being $1.05, the EPS surprise was +8.77%.
While investors scrutinize revenue and earnings changes year-over-year and how they compare with Wall Street expectations to determine their next move, some key metrics always offer a more accurate picture of a company's financial health.
Since these metrics play a crucial role in driving the top- and bottom-line numbers, comparing them with the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated about them helps investors better project a stock's price performance.
Here is how Old Dominion performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts:
Operating Ratio: 76.2% versus the four-analyst average estimate of 78%.LTL tonnage per day: 30.58 Kton/D compared to the 30.40 Kton/D average estimate based on two analysts.LTL shipments per day: 41.04 thousand versus 40.83 thousand estimated by two analysts on average.LTL revenue per hundredweight: $34.52 versus the two-analyst average estimate of $34.38.LTL revenue per hundredweight, excluding fuel surcharges: $29.13 compared to the $29.01 average estimate based on two analysts.Work days: 63.00 Days versus 63.00 Days estimated by two analysts on average.LTL weight per shipment (lbs.): 1,491.00 lbs compared to the 1,488.97 lbs average estimate based on two analysts.LTL shipments: 2,585 compared to the 2,572 average estimate based on two analysts.LTL tons: 1,927.00 KTon versus the two-analyst average estimate of 1,914.89 KTon.View all Key Company Metrics for Old Dominion here>>>
Shares of Old Dominion have returned +13.5% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +12.2% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), indicating that it could perform in line with the broader market in the near term.
Key Takeaways Q1 EPS of $1.14 beat estimates but were down 4.2% due to a decrease in revenues and a higher operating ratio.Q1 revenues of $1.33B down 2.9% as LTL tons/day fell 7.7%, partly offset by higher revenue per hundredweight.For 2026, ODFL continues to anticipate its aggregate capital expenditures to be around $265 million. Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (ODFL - Free Report) ) reported solid first-quarter 2026 results, wherein its earnings and revenues surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate.
Quarterly earnings per share of $1.14 beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.05 but dipped 4.2% year over year. The decrease in ODFL’s revenue and an increase in operating ratio resulted in a year-over-year decline in the bottom line in the first quarter.
Revenues of $1.33 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.31 billion but decreased 2.9% year over year. The downside in ODFL’s first-quarter revenues was owing to a 7.7% decrease in LTL tons per day, which was partially offset by an increase in ODFL’s LTL revenue per hundredweight. The decrease in LTL tons per day reflects the net impact of a 7.9% decrease in LTL shipments per day and a 0.3% increase in LTL weight per shipment.
LTL revenue per hundredweight, excluding fuel surcharges, grew 4.4% year over year owing to the company’s long-term, disciplined approach to yield management.
Revenues from LTL services came in at $1.32 billion (down 2.9% year over year). Other services revenues fell 8.7% year over year to $12.8 million.
Marty Freeman, president and chief executive officer of Old Dominion, commented, “Old Dominion’s first quarter financial results reflect a continuation of encouraging trends that started developing late last year. While our first quarter revenue decreased on a year-over-year basis, demand for our LTL service improved as the quarter progressed. The improvement in demand, coupled with our ability to consistently deliver superior service to our customers, contributed to both the acceleration in our LTL volumes and improvement in our yield during the quarter. Our industry-leading service metrics for the first quarter once again included 99% on-time service and a claims ratio below 0.1%. These service standards form the foundation of our unmatched value proposition, which we believe will support our ability to win market share over the long term.”
Other Aspects of Q1 Earnings ReportIn the quarter under review, LTL weight per shipment rose 0.3%, and LTL revenue per shipment inched up 5.9% year over year. LTL shipments and LTL shipments per day were both down 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. LTL revenue per hundredweight, excluding fuel surcharges, grew 4.4% year over year.
Total operating expenses declined 1.9% year over year to $1.02 billion. The operating income decreased 6.1% year over year to $317.34 million. Operating ratio (operating expenses as a percentage of revenues) increased to 76.2% from 75.4% in the year-ago quarter.
Old Dominion exited the March-end quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $288.08 million compared with $120.09 million at the end of the prior quarter. Long-term debt at the end of the first quarter of 2026 was $19.9 million, flat sequentially.
During the first quarter of 2026, Old Dominion rewarded its shareholders with $88.1 million through its share repurchases and paid $60.5 million in the form of dividend payments.
ODFL generated $373.6 million of net cash from operating activities during the first quarter of 2026. Capital expenditures were $62.6 million for the first quarter of 2026.
OutlookFor 2026, ODFL continues to anticipate its aggregate capital expenditures to be around $265 million, which includes planned expenditures of $125 million for real estate and service center expansion projects, $95 million for tractors and trailers and $45 million for information technology and other assets.
Currently, Old Dominion carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Q1 Performances of Other Transportation CompaniesDelta Air Lines (DAL - Free Report) reported first-quarter 2026 earnings (excluding $1.08 from non-recurring items) of 64 cents per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 61 cents. Earnings increased 39.1% on a year-over-year basis due to high labor costs. Adjusted revenues in the March-end quarter were $14.2 billion, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $14 billion and increasing on a year-over-year basis.
United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (UAL - Free Report) reported solid first-quarter 2026 results wherein the company’s earnings and revenues beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate as well as improved on a year-over-year basis.
UAL's first-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) (excluding 95 cents from non-recurring items) of $1.19 surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.08 and increased 30.8% on a year-over-year basis. The reported figure lies within the guided range of $1.00-$1.50.
Operating revenues of $14.6 billion outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $14.3 billion and increased 10.5% year over year. Passenger revenues (which accounted for 90.1% of the top line) increased 11% year over year to $13.1 billion. UAL flights transported 42,486 passengers in the first quarter, up 4.1% year over year.
Cargo revenues fell 1.6% year over year to $422 million. Revenues from other sources rose 10.5% year over year to $1.02 billion.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT - Free Report) posted first-quarter 2026 earnings per share of $1.49, up 27% from $1.17 a year ago. The result topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by $0.04, a 2.8% surprise.
Operating revenues totaled $3.06 billion, rising 4.6% year over year. Revenues beat the consensus mark of $2.94 billion, resulting in a 3.9% surprise, as demand proved resilient across several service offerings, led by Intermodal volume growth and higher revenue per load in select highway-related businesses.
Q1: 2026-04-29 Earnings SummaryEPS of $1.14 beats by $0.09
|
Revenue of
$1.33B
(-2.92% Y/Y)
beats by $20.73M
Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (ODFL) Q1 2026 Earnings Call April 29, 2026 10:00 AM EDT
Company Participants
Jack Atkins - Director of Investor Relations
Kevin Freeman - President, CEO & Director
Adam Satterfield - Executive VP, Assistant Secretary & CFO
Conference Call Participants
Jordan Alliger - Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Research Division
Jason Seidl - TD Cowen, Research Division
Christian Wetherbee - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division
Scott Group - Wolfe Research, LLC
Eric Morgan - Barclays Bank PLC, Research Division
Ravi Shanker - Morgan Stanley, Research Division
Jonathan Chappell - Evercore ISI Institutional Equities, Research Division
Ken Hoexter - BofA Securities, Research Division
Thomas Wadewitz - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division
Brian Ossenbeck - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division
Richa Talwar - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division
Ariel Rosa - Citigroup Inc., Research Division
Jeffrey Kauffman - Vertical Research Partners, LLC
Stephanie Benjamin Moore - Jefferies LLC, Research Division
Matthew Milask - Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, Research Division
Joe Enderlin - Stephens Inc., Research Division
Presentation
Operator
Good day, and welcome to the Old Dominion Freight Line First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call.
[Operator Instructions]
Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Jack Atkins. Please go ahead.
Jack Atkins
Director of Investor Relations
Thank you, Dorwin. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the first quarter 2026 conference call for Old Dominion Freight Line. Today's call is being recorded and will be available for replay beginning today and through April 29, 2026, by dialing 1-855-669-9658, access code 7699494. The replay of the webcast may also be accessed for 30 days at the company's website. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements, among others, regarding Old Dominion's expected financial and operating performance.
Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. (NASDAQ:ODFL) on Wednesday reported upbeat first-quarter 2026 results.
Revenue declined 2.9% year over year to $1.335 billion, topping analyst expectations of $1.312 billion. The decrease was driven by a 7.7% drop in less-than-truckload (LTL) tons per day, reflecting a 7.9% decline in shipments per day during the quarter.
Net income decreased 6.4% to $238.3 million. Earnings came in at $1.14 per share, down 4.2% year over year but above the consensus estimate of $1.06.
For fiscal 2026, Old Dominion continues to expect aggregate capital expenditures of approximately $265 million.
Old Dominion shares gained 1.1% to trade at $211.61 on Thursday.
These analysts made changes to their price targets on Old Dominion following earnings announcement.
Considering buying ODFL stock? Here’s what analysts think:
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Norfolk, VA, May 07, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Old Dominion University proudly announces it is becoming a Health Promoting University, an evolution that integrates well-being into all aspects of campus life, including teaching, research, policies, environments and daily experiences. This holistic approach reflects Old Dominion University's dedication to educating tomorrow’s healthcare leaders, while conducting cutting-edge research and providing critical care through community outreach, alongside our medical partners.
"Our journey to reach this milestone was made possible due to partnership and perseverance," said Old Dominion University President Brian O. Hemphill, Ph.D. "This is a defining shift as health is no longer simply what we do – it is who we are. We are integrating well-being into our operations, systems and spaces, thereby establishing a culture that is enduring and evolving through a collective impact model."
Home to the largest academic health sciences center in the Commonwealth of Virginia, Old Dominion University’s journey has involved significant milestones, such as the 2024 integration of Eastern Virginia Medical School and the 2025 establishment of the Joan P. Brock Institute for Nutrition Science and Health. Now, in 2026, the University takes a step further in its expertise through a shared commitment to health promotion.
In partnership with the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM), the leading authority on lifestyle medicine education, Old Dominion University will further health promotion. ACLM will support education, clinical practice, research, community outreach and engagement at Old Dominion University.
"Our Health Promoting University agenda will be grounded in evidence, guided by national benchmarks for campus health and measured through shared indicators that hold us accountable to our community," President Hemphill added. "As a preeminent public research institution, we are uniquely positioned to pursue this worthwhile responsibility through the collective efforts of our students, faculty and staff strengthening a culture that prioritizes care, connection and meaningful impact."
A Health Promoting University Advisory Council has been appointed to advance this initiative. This council includes executive-level sponsorship from Executive Vice President for Health Sciences Alfred Abuhamad, MD; Vice President for Student and Campus Life Brandi Hephner LaBanc, Ed.D.; and Vice President for Talent Management and Culture September Sanderlin. They are joined by Drs. Anca Dobrian, Veleka Gatling and Bridget Weikel, as well as a Well-Being Collective Working Group that guides the creation of a shared agenda shaped by community-wide engagement and collective impact.
The commitment to becoming a Health Promoting University builds upon Old Dominion University’s strong foundation. By fostering a culture where mental and physical health are supported, belonging and purpose are cultivated and connection and resilience are strengthened, Old Dominion University ensures that when students, faculty, staff and partners thrive, the entire community flourishes.
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ABOUT OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY
Old Dominion University (ODU), located in Norfolk, is Virginia's forward-focused public doctoral research university with more than 24,000 students. A top R1 research institution offering rigorous academics, Old Dominion University is recognized nationally for academic excellence, social mobility and access. Military friendly and home to an energetic residential community and robust initiatives that currently contribute $3.8 billion annually to Virginia's economy, Old Dominion University is a leader in the commonwealth. Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University, founded July 1, 2024, represents the most comprehensive health sciences center in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the forefront of digital innovation, Old Dominion University partnered with Google in October 2025 to launch MonarchSphere powered by Google Cloud, a first-of-its-kind AI incubator for higher education.
It's arguably one of the least glamorous industries out there. Still, transportation is the heartbeat of any economy, particularly one as expansive as the U.S. This is also a diverse industry, comprising companies that move people (airlines, rideshare companies), commodities (railroads), packages (freight haulers), and more from place to place.
Combine those factors, and it's not surprising that some pros see transportation stocks as reliable indicators of the broader economy's health. That's a starting point for becoming educated about the transportation sector, but investors taking the long view of this industry should remember a couple of key points.
These transportation stocks could be solid bets for long-term investors. Image source: Getty Images
First, not all transportation companies are beholden to the same dynamics. For example, airlines rely on business and leisure travel demand, which are factors that don't directly affect, say, railroads. Second, those divergences make quality paramount when evaluating transportation stocks. Here are a few that may serve investors over the long haul.
Ride this railroad Among large-cap industrial stocks not in the aerospace and defense sector, Union Pacific (UNP +1.83%) has been an admirable performer in recent years, and there are reasons to believe that trend will continue, if not improve.
Where Union Pacific outshines its peers and thus shines for investors is in operational excellence. That much was on display in the first quarter when it set records across six key efficiency metrics, including freight car velocity and locomotive productivity. Admittedly, that's some railroad industry jargon, and some investors are apt to wonder what the payoff is for Union Pacific's mastery of efficiency.
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It's easily explained. Those efficiencies enhance the bottom line, as highlighted by first-quarter earnings-per-share growth of 6%. The first three months of 2026 probably won't be a one-off in terms of Union Pacific earnings excellence. The railroad operator expects to deliver a three-year earnings per share compound annual growth rate in the "high-single to low-double digit(s) through 2027." That earnings growth trajectory supports Union Pacific's dividend growth plans, potentially making the stock even more appealing to long-term investors.
Hopefully, this movie repeats Even new investors have likely heard the old saying, "History doesn't always repeat, but it often rhymes." Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL 0.71%) shareholders would likely be satisfied with either a sequel or a poem, because over the past 25 years, this trucking company has been one of the best-performing stocks of any stripe.
To be precise, just six stocks outpaced Old Dominion over that span. Interestingly, this transportation stock trades on the Nasdaq stock exchange, which is typically viewed as a haven for high-growth tech equities. On a related note, Old Dominion delivered better returns over the past quarter-century than Amazon.
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Those are nice superlatives, but they're in the rearview mirror. Old Dominion operates in a cost-intensive industry. That much was on display in the first quarter as the hauler's operating ratio weakened. Investors can take some heart in knowing that it won't be a permanent phenomenon because Old Dominion is considered one of the highest-quality trucking names and an industry margin leader.
The long-term outlook is supported by the company's commitment to returning capital to shareholders through buybacks and dividends, the latter of which increased by 7.7% last December.
Make the Kirby call Compared to some transportation stocks, Kirby (KEX +2.06%) toils in relative anonymity, but that doesn't diminish the fact that the stock has more than doubled over the past three years. Plus, there are reasons to believe this could be one of the best transportation stocks to own this year and beyond.
That thesis is cemented by Kirby's status as the king of shipping barges that operate on the Mississippi River. So there's a fair chance any product which arrived at its final destination via the Mighty Mississippi spent time on a Kirby barge. That implies a competitive moat which long-term investors may prize. Kirby's distribution and services business is also a compelling part of the equation because it gives the company a foothold in industries such as oilfield services and power generation.
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Power generation is a segment to keep an eye on, as Kirby reported 45% first-quarter revenue growth in that business, along with a rising order backlog. Strength in that unit may well be one reason Kirby boosted its 2026 earnings-per-share guidance to 5% to 15% growth from 0% to 12%. If those earnings trends prove consistent, Kirby has the makings of a long-term winner.
THOMASVILLE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (Nasdaq: ODFL) today announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.29 per share of common stock, payable on June 17, 2026, to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 3, 2026. This dividend payment represents a 3.6% increase to the quarterly cash dividend paid in June 2025. Forward-looking statements in this news release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the P.
Key Takeaways ODFL supports shareholders through dividends and buybacks while maintaining a low debt profile.Pricing discipline adds strength, but weak freight demand weighs on the company. Driver shortages and economic uncertainty further pressure ODFL's performance. Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (ODFL - Free Report) ) looks expensive from a valuation standpoint. Considering the forward 12-month price-to-sales ratio (P/E-F12M), ODFL is trading at a premium compared to the industry.
The stock has a forward 12-month P/E-F12M of 37.03X compared with 33.79X for the industry over the past five years. The company’s forward 12-month P/E-F12M ratio is also above the median level of 29.81X over the past five years. These factors indicate that the stock’s valuation is unattractive. ODFL has a Value Score of F.
ODFL P/E Ratio (Forward 12 Months) Vs. Industry Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Now, the question is whether it is worth buying, holding, or selling the ODFL stock at current prices. Let us delve deeper to find out.
Headwinds Weighing on ODFL StockMacroeconomic concerns are leading to a tough freight environment. ODFL is being hurt by reduced demand for freight services. Due to the weakness in freight demand, shipment volumes and rates are low. Risks associated with the economic slowdown, geopolitical tensions and tariff-induced economic uncertainty continue to bother the stock’s performance.
As things stand now, consumer spending and business investments remain low, and production levels have decreased in response to reduced demand, affecting demand for goods transportation and resulting in a freight recession (The Cass Freight Shipments Index, which declined 4.4% year over year in April 2026, 4.5% year over year in March 2026, 7.2% year over year in February 2026 and 7.1% in January 2026). This measure has also deteriorated year over year in each of the past 12 months in 2025, which confirms the overall declining trend. We currently believe that these factors indicate persistent weakness in freight demand through the remainder of this year.
The truck industry, of which Old Dominion is an integral part, has been persistently battling a driver shortage for several years. As old drivers are retiring, trucking companies are finding it difficult to find new drivers to take their place since the low-paying job does not appeal to the younger generation.
ODFL Stock’s Price PerformanceShares of ODFL have gained 28.2% in the past year, underperforming the transportation-truck industry’s 50.9% surge, as well as that of other industry players, J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT - Free Report) and Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (KNX - Free Report) , within the same time frame.
ODFL Stock's One-Year Price Comparison Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Factors Working in Favor of ODFL Stock
ODFL’s disciplined approach to pricing is highly commendable. The company’s cost-based approach to pricing enables it to retain customers and supports tonnage even in times of weak demand. This is borne out by the LTL revenue per hundredweight indicator (a commonly used indicator for general pricing trends in the industry), which for ODFL improved 5.7% in the first quarter of 2026, despite demand weakness. The same metric improved 3.9% year over year in 2025 and 2.4% in 2024.
Old Dominion has a solid balance sheet. The company ended first-quarter 2026 with cash and cash equivalents of $288.08 million, higher than the current debt level of $20 million. This implies that the company has sufficient cash to meet its current debt obligations.
A solid balance sheet allows the company to reward shareholders with dividends and share repurchases. Notably, ODFL has been consistently making efforts to reward its shareholders through dividends and share buybacks, which are encouraging. As a reflection of its shareholder-friendly stance, ODFL paid dividends of $175.1 million and repurchased shares worth $453.6 million in 2023, despite the weakness pertaining to freight demand.
During 2024, ODFL paid out dividends worth $223.6 million and repurchased shares worth $967.3 million. During 2025, ODFL paid out dividends worth $235.6 million and repurchased shares worth $730.3 million. During the first quarter of 2026, ODFL paid $60.5 million through dividend payments and repurchased shares worth $88.1 million. Such shareholder-friendly initiatives should boost investor confidence and positively impact the bottom line.
What Do Earnings Estimates Say for ODFL?The positive sentiment surrounding ODFL stock is evident from the fact that the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the second quarter of 2026 and the third quarter of 2026 earnings has been revised upward in the past 60 days. The consensus mark for full-year 2026 and 2027 earnings has also been projected northward in the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The favorable estimate revisions indicate brokers’ confidence in the stock.
Time to Retain ODFL StockIt is understood that ODFL stock is currently unattractively valued. Moreover, ODFL is suffering from revenue weakness as geopolitical uncertainty and high inflation continue to hurt consumer sentiment and growth expectations. The increase in inflation in the past few months shows that we are not yet out of the woods as far as inflation is concerned. Driver shortages continue to bother the trucking industry players.
Despite the headwinds, we advise investors not to sell ODFL stock now due to its cost-based approach to pricing, which enables it to retain customers and supports tonnage even in times of weak demand. ODFL’s solid balance sheet allows it to reward shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. Such shareholder-friendly moves boost investor confidence and positively impact the company's bottom line.
We advise investors to wait for a better entry point. For those who already own the stock, it will be prudent to stay invested. The company’s current Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) justifies our analysis. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL - Free Report) . Shares have added about 4% in that time frame, underperforming the S&P 500.
Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Old Dominion due for a pullback? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at its latest earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important catalysts.
Old Dominion Q1 Earnings Beat EstimatesOld Dominion reported solid first-quarter 2026 results, wherein its earnings and revenues surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate.
Quarterly earnings per share of $1.14 beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.05 but dipped 4.2% year over year. The decrease in ODFL’s revenue and an increase in operating ratio resulted in a year-over-year decline in the bottom line in the first quarter.
Revenues of $1.33 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.31 billion but decreased 2.9% year over year. The downside in ODFL’s first-quarter revenues was owing to a 7.7% decrease in LTL tons per day which was partially offset by an increase in ODFL’s LTL revenue per hundredweight. The decrease in LTL tons per day reflects the net impact of a 7.9% decrease in LTL shipments per day and a 0.3% increase in LTL weight per shipment.
LTL revenue per hundredweight, excluding fuel surcharges, grew 4.4% year over year owing to the company’s long-term, disciplined approach to yield management. Revenues from LTL services came in at $1.32 billion (down 2.9% year over year). Other services revenues fell 8.7% year over year to $12.8 million.
Other Aspects of Q1 Earnings ReportIn the quarter under review, LTL weight per shipment rose 0.3% and LTL revenue per shipment inched up 5.9% year over year. LTL shipments and LTL shipments per day were both down 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. LTL revenue per hundredweight, excluding fuel surcharges, grew 4.4% year over year.
Total operating expenses declined 1.9% year over year to $1.02 billion. The operating income decreased 6.1% year over year to $317.34 million. Operating ratio (operating expenses as a % of revenues) worsened to 76.2% from 75.4% in the year-ago quarter.
Old Dominion exited the March-end quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $288.08 million compared with $120.09 million at the end of the prior quarter. Long-term debt at the end of the final quarter of 2026 was $19.9 million, flat sequentially.
During the first quarter of 2026, Old Dominion rewarded its shareholders with $88.1 million through its share repurchases and paid $60.5 million in the form of dividend payments.
ODFL generated $373.6 million of net cash from operating activities during the first quarter of 2026. Capital expenditures were $62.6 million for the first quarter of 2026.
OutlookFor 2026, ODFL continues to anticipate its aggregate capital expenditures to be around $265 million, which includes planned expenditures of $125 million for real estate and service center expansion projects, $95 million for tractors and trailers, and $45 million for information technology and other assets.
How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?In the past month, investors have witnessed a upward trend in estimates review.
The consensus estimate has shifted 6.43% due to these changes.
VGM ScoresAt this time, Old Dominion has a average Growth Score of C, though it is lagging a bit on the Momentum Score front with a D. Charting a somewhat similar path, the stock was allocated a score of F on the value side, putting it in the fifth quintile for value investors.
Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of D. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.
OutlookEstimates have been trending upward for the stock, and the magnitude of these revisions looks promising. Notably, Old Dominion has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months.
Performance of an Industry PlayerOld Dominion is part of the Zacks Transportation - Truck industry. Over the past month, Landstar System (LSTR - Free Report) , a stock from the same industry, has gained 10.5%. The company reported its results for the quarter ended March 2026 more than a month ago.
Landstar reported revenues of $1.17 billion in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +1.6%. EPS of $1.16 for the same period compares with $0.85 a year ago.
For the current quarter, Landstar is expected to post earnings of $1.41 per share, indicating a change of +17.5% from the year-ago quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed +2.9% over the last 30 days.
The overall direction and magnitude of estimate revisions translate into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for Landstar. Also, the stock has a VGM Score of B.
THOMASVILLE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (Nasdaq: ODFL) today reported certain less-than-truckload (“LTL”) operating metrics for May 2026. Revenue per day increased 12.3% as compared to May 2025 due to an increase in our LTL revenue per hundredweight that was partially offset by a 3.8% decrease in LTL tons per day. The change in LTL tons per day was attributable to a 5.3% decrease in LTL shipments per day that was partially offset by a 1.6% increase in LTL weight per.
