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Top of the Morning
10:25 am — ISRG flat
By Sanmeet Deo
Team Rule Breakers
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG 0.14%) dropped its Q1 2026 results on April 21, and the numbers were hard to argue with. Revenue hit $2.77 billion, up 23% year over year, while non-GAAP earnings per share surged to $2.50, crushing estimates of $2.12. Procedures grew 17% globally, the Ion lung-biopsy platform jumped 39%, and management promptly raised full-year guidance. For good measure, the company bought back $1.1 billion of its own stock in a single quarter, the largest repurchase in company history.
The bull case is compelling. The most important detail in the report wasn’t the topline beat, it was that revenue grew six percentage points faster than procedures. That gap is pricing power made visible, driven by the da Vinci 5 platform commanding higher ASPs and generating ~11% more utilization per system than its predecessor. As the installed base of 11,395 systems churns out high-margin instrument and accessory revenue every quarter, the flywheel keeps spinning faster. Japan’s new reimbursement policy in June 2026 could add another growth leg.
The bear case has teeth too. China, once a promising growth frontier, is now effectively dead money until at least 2027, with domestic competition and policy headwinds showing no signs of abating. Tariffs are trimming roughly 100 basis points from gross margins. And a newly disclosed cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized customer data access introduces a tail risk management hasn’t faced before.
At its current valuation, Intuitive already prices in a lot of perfection. The business is exceptional, the question is whether the stock gives you room to breathe.
Today’s Change
(-0.14%) $-0.69
Current Price
$482.93
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$172B
Day’s Range
$479.12 – $489.15
52wk Range
$427.84 – $603.88
Volume
37K
Avg Vol
2M
Gross Margin
70.95%
9:25 am — MEDP -23.2% in pre-market trading
By Andy Cross
Motley Fool CIO
Medpace (MEDP 23.15%) shares are under pressure today after reporting Q1 2026 earnings yesterday that exceeded estimates but left investors concerned over future business. Q1 EPS of $4.28 beat the $3.94 estimates. And revenue of $706.6 million outpaced expectations of $697.6 million. The contract research company also maintained its full-year 2026 guidance with revenues between $2.755 billion and $2.855 billion and EPS between $16.68 and $17.50.
The conference call is just going on as I write this, but some of the concerns are about the book-to-bill ratio, which dipped down to 0.88x from 1.04x last quarter and 0.9x a year ago. Book-to-bill measures future business relative to the current sales. Above 1 is better than not. Medpace’s ratio this quarter was also below analysts’ consensus estimate of 1.04x according to VisibleAlpha, a S&P GlobalMarket Intelligence company. And that estimate has trended down. So this 0.88x result comes as a bit of a surprise.
5:15 am — BNTX -0.69% in pre-market trading
By Morning Show host Thomas King, CFA
Team Rule Breakers
Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest. In 2019 and 2020, sixteen patients were treated with a cancer vaccine developed by BioNTech (BNTX 0.65%) and Genentech which was designed to stimulate their immune system to recognize and attack the cancerous cells. Of the sixteen patients treated, eight had a significant immune system response, and of these eight, seven were alive five years after receiving the vaccine. Seven of the total of sixteen patients (44%), and seven of the eight (88%) that had an immune response were alive five years later. This is a dramatic improvement from the typical five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer, which is 13%. This was a small study with only sixteen patients, but the results are encouraging and the vaccine will now be tested in a larger group of patients in a Phase 2 study.
Opening Bell
9:35 am — TSLA -2.6%, IBM -9.6%, NOW -15.9%
Wall Street is pulling back from Wednesday’s record peaks as heavy-hitting tech earnings trigger a selective sell-off. While the S&P 500 and Nasdaq initially rallied on President Trump’s Iran ceasefire extension, disappointing reactions to corporate results have soured the mood. Tesla (TSLA 3.27%) shares reversed early gains to trade 3% lower after CEO Elon Musk projected a “substantial” surge in capital expenditures — hitting $25 billion for 2026 — to fund its shift into AI and robotics. Meanwhile, enterprise software giants IBM (IBM 8.60%) and ServiceNow (NOW 16.95%) are dragging on the indices, dropping 7% and 13% respectively, as investors question if current profit growth can sustain premium valuations amid ongoing geopolitical “heartburn.”
Netflix’s $25B Buyback Signals Share Confidence
8:00 am — NFLX +1.22% in pre-market trading
Netflix (NFLX +0.24%) is shifting its capital strategy from mega-mergers to shareholder returns, authorizing a new $25 billion share repurchase program following its exit from the $72 billion race for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD 0.02%). The move comes as the streamer sits on $12.3 billion in cash–boosted by a $2.8 billion breakup fee from Paramount Skydance (PSKY 4.58%)–and looks to soothe investors following a tepid Q2 forecast and the impending departure of co-founder Reed Hastings. With acquisition “noise” behind it, Netflix is pivoting toward internal growth, including the recent purchase of AI film-tech firm InterPositive and a $20 billion content spend targeting live sports and advertising scale.
- High-Yield Confidence: The buyback resumes with $6.8 billion still remaining from a previous 2024 plan, signaling management’s belief that shares are undervalued after a recent 10% post-earnings dip to roughly $94.
- Scaling the Ad Tier: Analysts expect the ad-supported segment to double revenue to $3 billion in 2026, serving as a critical offset to slowing subscriber growth in mature markets like the U.S. and Canada.
Today’s Change
(0.24%) $0.22
Current Price
$93.46
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$393B
Day’s Range
$93.29 – $94.62
52wk Range
$75.01 – $134.12
Volume
367K
Avg Vol
47M
Gross Margin
49.44%
This Morning’s Breakfast News
7:30 am — IBM -7.48% in pre-market trading
IBM (IBM 8.60%) fell over 7% ahead of the market open despite quarterly results beating revenue and earnings estimates, as cautious guidance for the full year weighed on sentiment, something CEO Arvind Krishna blamed on broader geopolitical uncertainty.
- “A lot of consumer companies are my clients”: Krishna pointed out that higher inflation could see people spend less at companies such as Walmart (WMT +1.23%), which indirectly impacts IBM from reduced activity.
- “IBM’s consulting business will be both threatened and supported by more sophisticated AI tools”: In late February, TMF chief investment officer Andy Cross explained the Hidden Gems recommendation is under pressure from AI disruption, but “mainframes remain necessary infrastructure for hugely complex computing systems.”
ICYMI: Wednesday’s Scoreboard
6:00 am — AOS unchanged in pre-market trading
A.O. Smith (AOS +1.45%) was the subject of the latest Scoreboard video.
China’s Tech Giants Race to Back DeepSeek
5:30 am — BABA -2.34% in pre-market trading
Chinese internet giants Tencent (TCEHY 2.72%) and Alibaba (BABA 3.36%) are in advanced talks to lead a landmark $300 million funding round for DeepSeek, a move that could value the AI pioneer at over $20 billion. The start-up, owned by hedge fund High-Flyer Capital Management, has gained global recognition for its high-efficiency, low-cost open-source models that rival U.S. leaders like Alphabet (GOOG +0.21%). Tencent has reportedly proposed acquiring up to a 20% stake, though negotiations remain fluid as DeepSeek resists ceding significant control. For the tech titans, the deal is a strategic grab for “agentic AI” leadership and a way to lock in demand for their respective cloud computing and data center services.
- Benchmark Battle: DeepSeek’s target valuation is being compared to MiniMax, another Chinese “super unicorn” recently valued by Goldman Sachs at $38.9 billion due to its extreme optimization of computing costs.
- Agentic Shift: DeepSeek is pivotally expanding into software “agents” capable of autonomous task execution, a sector where Alibaba recently consolidated its AI services into a single business unit to drive 2026 growth.
Today’s Change
(-3.36%) $-4.58
Current Price
$131.84
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$307B
Day’s Range
$131.74 – $133.90
52wk Range
$103.71 – $192.67
Volume
3.2M
Avg Vol
11M
Gross Margin
40.43%
Dividend Yield
0.77%
Tilray Jumps on Cannabis Rescheduling Hopes
4:45 am — TLRY +2.50% in pre-market trading
Tilray (TLRY 1.97%) shares surged over 11% as cannabis stocks rallied following reports that the Trump administration is expected to move toward reclassifying marijuana to Schedule III. The potential regulatory shift has sparked heavy buying interest across the sector.
- Rescheduling catalyst drives sector rally: Reports indicate the administration is expected to finalize marijuana reclassification, which investors view as a major regulatory catalyst that could ease tax burdens and boost the industry.
- Analyst sees significant upside potential: A Wall Street analyst highlighted over 40% upside for Tilray based on its leading Canadian market share and growing beverage revenue, adding to the bullish sentiment surrounding the stock.
Today’s Change
(-1.97%) $-0.15
Current Price
$7.71
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$917M
Day’s Range
$7.59 – $9.34
52wk Range
$3.51 – $23.20
Volume
640K
Avg Vol
3.4M
Gross Margin
23.71%
Before the Opening Bell
4:30 am
Stock futures retreated Thursday as a breakdown in U.S.-Iran negotiations overshadowed President Trump’s “indefinite” ceasefire. While the truce holds, a complete naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has pushed Brent crude back above $103 per barrel, fueling stagflation fears ahead of April’s manufacturing data. Tesla (TSLA 3.27%) added to the volatility; despite a Q1 earnings beat, shares fell 2% after CEO Elon Musk jacked up 2026 capital expenditure guidance to $25 billion to fund a massive “Cybercab” and AI robotics push. As cash flow concerns mount, investors are pivoting to pre-market results from American Express (AXP 2.63%), Blackstone (BX 4.65%), and American Airlines (AAL +4.48%) to gauge consumer and industrial resilience.
- The $25B Bet: Tesla’s tripled capex run-rate targets six simultaneous production lines, including a dedicated “Optimus” humanoid robot facility in Austin set to begin large-scale output this August.
- Banking on the Premium: American Express is expected to post a 10% earnings jump to $4.01 per share, as its high-net-worth customer base remains largely insulated from war-related energy spikes.
American Express is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. This article was created using Large Language Models (LLMs) based on The Motley Fool’s insights and investing approach. It has been reviewed by our AI quality control systems. Since LLMs cannot (currently) own stocks, it has no positions in any of the stocks mentioned. Andy Cross has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Mastercard, Medpace, Netflix, ServiceNow, Tesla, and Warner Bros. Discovery. Sanmeet Deo, CFA has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Intuitive Surgical, Medpace, Netflix, Tesla, and Walmart. Thomas King, CFA has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, BioNTech Se, Intuitive Surgical, Mastercard, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends A. O. Smith, Alphabet, Amazon, Blackstone, DoorDash, International Business Machines, Intuitive Surgical, Mastercard, Medpace, Netflix, ServiceNow, Tencent, Tesla, Walmart, and Warner Bros. Discovery. The Motley Fool recommends Alibaba Group, BioNTech Se, and Tilray Brands and recommends the following options: long January 2028 $520 calls on Intuitive Surgical and short January 2028 $530 calls on Intuitive Surgical. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
