Earnings Season Kicks Into High Gear

Mega-Cap Tech Dominates This Week

Earnings season enters its most critical stretch today. GOOGL reports Wednesday after the bell, with a $2 trillion market cap on the line. AI monetisation and cloud growth are the key questions. Options hedging is active despite short interest sitting at just 1.5% of free float. TSLA also reports this week. Wall Street has published estimates ahead of the print. Options put buying has hit a two-year high — bearish conviction is flowing through derivatives rather than shares.

INTC faces the toughest crowd Thursday. Analysts trimmed targets before the print. The turnaround story remains fragile. Meanwhile META bulls are leaning long into results, with calls dominating options flow and short interest at just 1.6% of free float.

Short Sellers Make Bold Moves

Bears made sharp moves in two names. HTZ short interest climbed to 70.1% of free float. Availability has hit zero — no shares left to borrow. That makes a squeeze possible if any positive catalyst lands. On the flip side, HON shorts bailed hard ahead of its July 23 earnings — short interest collapsed 40% in a week.

Analyst Split on Financials

Analysts split on US banks today. USB earned an upgrade with a consensus target of $69.64. TFC went the other way, getting downgraded. UAL attracted bullish calls with a new average target of $160.89. TXN saw targets lifted to $303.59 ahead of its own earnings print.

Energy Deal of the Day

GEV secured a contract from Hawaiian Electric to supply six aeroderivative power packages for a Hawaii plant repower. The deal adds to GE Vernova's growing order book in the energy transition space.