Wall Street Keeps Getting Surprised

Ross Givens
Ross Givens Ross Givens is a veteran trader with over 15 years of experi...
August 20, 2026 | 3 min read
A Wall Street bull statue stands confidently in the foreground while a large upward-trending graph glows behind it, with golden dollar signs or coins raining down from above. The scene is bathed in warm, optimistic lighting — contrasting the bull's strength against a backdrop of surprised, wide-eyed analyst figures in suits scrambling to revise their charts upward. The overall composition conveys the powerful disconnect between pessimistic expectations and the reality of corporate earnings surgi

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Hey, Ross here:

Stocks have had a rough few days.

But as today’s charts show…

The companies themselves are doing much better than expected.

Chart of the Day

wall-street-keeps-getting-surprised

This chart shows how far actual results are coming in above analyst estimates.

The median S&P 500 company beat earnings estimates by 6% this quarter.

That’s the largest median earnings surprise since Q1 2022.

Sales are beating too.

The median sales surprise is 1.6% – also around a four-year high.

In other words, companies aren’t scraping past estimates by a penny or two.

The typical company is coming in well ahead of what Wall Street expected.

And there’s another part of earnings season I’ve been watching closely.

wall-street-keeps-getting-surprised

This tracks the net share of companies raising guidance versus lowering it.

And that number has climbed to its highest level in more than four years.

That’s a pretty strong combination.

Companies are beating the numbers analysts already had on the books…

And more of them are also telling Wall Street to expect better numbers going forward.

I pay special attention to that second part.

I explain the reason below.

Insight of the Day

Raising guidance is management raising the bar on itself

Beating an earnings estimate is obviously good.

But raising guidance is a different kind of decision.

Once management raises its outlook, analysts adjust their models.

Expectations go up.

And next quarter, the company gets judged against a higher number.

So executives aren’t exactly making life easier for themselves when they raise guidance.

They’re putting a better forecast on the record…

Then giving Wall Street a new target to hold them to.

That’s why the latest guidance data got my attention.

We’re not just seeing companies report a good quarter.

A growing number of management teams are confident enough to tell investors they expect the strength to continue.

But there’s an even stronger signal I like to watch:

When the people running the company start putting their own money behind that confidence.

Management can say it expects business to improve.

But when they reach into their own pockets to put money behind those words…

That’s one of the strongest buying signals I know.

But not all insider buying is created equal.

That’s why later today at 3 p.m. Eastern…

I’m going LIVE to demo my proven strategy for tracking down the high-conviction insider purchases…

As well as expose the warning signs you must know of…

And my 3 counterintuitive insider buying signals I’ve been relying on for nearly a decade.

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And I’ll see you LIVE today at 3 p.m. ET.

P.S. If you’re planning to attend on a mobile device, make sure you download the presentation app now so you don’t miss anything when it starts. See you there.

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/goto/id1465614785
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Customer Story of the Day

“Newbie here. Ross is a very hard worker sharing his research and knowledge with us.

Starts you out with the useful basics and patiently explains the minute details.

I haven’t executed many trades yet, but am more confident with some modest gains in my portfolio.

Looking forward to gleaning much more information and learning with Ross. THANKS!

PS The support staff are great too (Angelo-)”

Signature

Ross Givens
Editor, Stock Surge Daily

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Ross Givens

Written by

Ross Givens Chief Market Strategist

Ross Givens is a veteran trader with over 15 years of experience and a former VP at a major Wall Street investment bank. Specializing in small-cap stocks and momentum-driven plays, Ross identifies high-probability setups before they hit the mainstream. As Lead Strategist at Traders Agency, he has guided hundreds of successful trades and developed multiple flagship publications.

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