The earnings calendar is quiet, but this sector just posted its best relative week ever.
June 28, 2026
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS? Healthcare has been one of the biggest dead-money trades on Wall Street for years.
But last week, the sector posted its best relative week ever versus the S&P 500, and it closed within a nose hair of new all-time highs.
So here’s our question for you…
Is healthcare finally waking up?
Or is this just another failed rally in a sector that has disappointed investors time and again?
Write us at [email protected]. We value your input and may feature your responses in a future post.
We’re no longer drowning in reports from the biggest companies in America, but we're still getting a clean read on where money is moving, which trends are breaking, and which laggards are suddenly showing signs of life.
Last week gave us plenty to work with, but the biggest story may be happening in a sector most investors have ignored for years.
Healthcare.
After years of underperformance, healthcare just posted its best relative week ever versus the S&P 500.
At the same time, $XLV is pressing against new all-time highs after carving out a massive accumulation pattern.
So yes, we’ll still review last week’s earnings reactions.
But then we’re going straight into the bigger question: Is healthcare finally becoming leadership again?
Sexy is back... After years of underperforming, Victoria's Secret $VSXY is breaking out to new all-time highs.
And the best part? The fundamentals and earnings sentiment are fueling the technical breakout. In the company's latest report, revenues grew 15% YoY, and EPS surged 567% over the same period. In response to the historic report, the stock rallied nearly 50%, marking its best 1-day earnings reaction ever.
Sticking with the consumer, but moving from lingerie to lending, we highlighted Sezzle $SEZL. This is a $5 billion credit services stock, and it's one of the hottest growth stories in the market right now.
Over the past five quarters, Sezzle has posted incredible top- and bottom-line growth. In the company's latest earnings report, revenues grew by more than 29% YoY, and earnings per share grew by 43% over the same period. This has resulted in a very strong primary uptrend in the stock price, backed by very positive earnings sentiment.
After years of carving out a massive accumulation pattern, Carnival $CCL looked poised to breakout following this week's earnings report.
However, the company reported mixed headline results and suffered its worst earnings reaction since Q3 2023. Until CCL can decisively clear $31.50, we expect more rangebound price action.
In a tough tape, FedEx $FDX and Paychex $PAYX beat their headline expectations, but had negative earnings reactions in absolute terms. However, FDX actually had a positive reaction score.
FDX recently spun off its FedEx Freight segment, and the market applauded this move. The stock is in a very strong primary uptrend and remains a leader in the transportation industry.
Following a blockbuster earnings report, Micron $MU rallied 15.7% for its best earnings reaction of the 21st century. GPUs and CPUs may get all the headlines, but memory is quickly becoming one of the most important bottlenecks in the entire AI buildout.
On the flip side, Darden Restaurants $DRI reported mixed headline results and had a slightly negative earnings reaction. And while the stock isn't ready to breakout yet, it's setting up nicely for another advance higher.
What's happening next week 👇
The earnings calendar is finally running out of gas.
Next week, we’ll still get reports from recognizable names like Nike $NKE, Constellation Brands $STZ, and General Mills $GIS, so there will be a few stocks worth watching.
But let’s be honest…
That isn't where the real story is right now.
The better question is what changed during this earnings season.
And one of the biggest changes is happening in healthcare, a sector that has been among the market's worst performers for years.
Healthcare peaked versus the S&P 500 back in 2020, spent the next several years underperforming, and recently retested the same relative level that marked the bottom in 2000.
It has been a complete disaster, but something finally changed last week.
Healthcare just posted its best one-week relative rate of change ever versus the S&P 500.
This is what we refer to as an initiation thrust. We tend to see blowout moves like this near the beginning of major primary trend changes.
At the same time, the absolute chart of the Healthcare Sector $XLV is flirting with a breakout to new all-time highs.
Since peaking in 2024, XLV has carved out a massive accumulation pattern, and closed Friday just a nose hair away from a new all-time high.
And we think a breakout from here could set the stage for a major rally over the coming weeks and months.
And if healthcare is really entering a new leadership phase, the next step is obvious…
We want to find the best stocks inside the group.
That is where the earnings data helps.
At the Beat Report, we're constantly digging into the technicals, fundamentals, and earnings sentiment to figure out where buyers are actually showing up.
And based on the most recent healthcare earnings season, the group is improving.
Last quarter, 68.3% of S&P 500 healthcare stocks beat both revenue and earnings expectations.
And this quarter, that number jumped to 81.4%, marking a major sequential improvement.
The number of mixed reports fell from 26.7% to 10.2%, while double misses increased slightly from 5.0% to 8.5%.
So it wasn't a perfect quarter across the board, but the overall message is clear enough.
More healthcare companies are beating expectations than in the recent past.
Now we need to know which stocks the market actually rewarded, which is where reaction scores come in.
The strongest healthcare reaction score this quarter came from Cooper Companies $COO, a $14 billion medical instruments and supplies stock best known for CooperVision and CooperSurgical.
Cooper posted the best reaction score in the entire healthcare sector, followed by Agilent Technologies $A, DeVita $DVA, Medtronic $MDT, West Pharmaceutical $WST, and a handful of other names, with buyers responding aggressively after earnings.
Those are the stocks we want to take a closer look at because these are the names where the market is already voting with its wallet.
While there were some sweet positive earnings reactions this quarter, it wasn't all roses.
On the other side of the tape, we also saw some big negative reactions.
Cencora $COR had the worst reaction score in the group.
Mettler-Toledo $MTD also got hit hard.
Zoetis $ZTS, Bio-Techne $TECH, GE HealthCare $GEHC, and several other healthcare names were punished badly.
And that matters just as much as the positive reactions.
A rising tide lifts all boats, but we still want to know which ones have holes in them.
So the message from healthcare is not simply “buy the whole sector.”
The message is that a major rotation may be underway, the sector’s earnings profile is improving, and the reaction scores indicate where the strongest opportunities may be hiding.
Healthcare is one of the largest sectors in the market.
It includes medical devices, healthcare providers, life sciences tools, pharmaceuticals, biotech, managed care, distributors, diagnostics, and equipment companies.
And when a group this large starts turning after years of underperformance, the opportunity set can be enormous.
But we still need to be selective and focus on the stocks with the strongest technicals, fundamentals, and earnings sentiment.
That brings us to our next Beat Report Pitch Meeting.
These are the meetings we usually hold internally, where our Beat Team brings their highest-conviction trade ideas to Steve Strazza and debates them in real time.
And for the first time, we pulled back the curtain and let members watch the process live last Friday.
And because of the overwhelming amount of positive feedback we've received, we're doing it again.
Our next Beat Report Pitch Meeting will take place on July 3, while the market is closed.
That gives us the perfect window to sit back, study the strongest setups, and pressure-test our favorite trade ideas without the noise of the trading day.
If you want access to the next pitch meeting, our current watchlist, and the next trade alert we send to members, join Beat Report today.
Thank you for your loyal readership,
-The Beat Team
Editor's Note: The strategy Steve Strazza built for fast, momentum-driven markets has a third-party-audited track record.
Across the trades that doubled, the average peak return was 578%, though those are the maximum gains each contract reached, not guaranteed exits.
He lays out the full record and how to start in Breakout Multiplier, which is open at a discount through tonight at 11:59 pm ET.
