The Most Important Part of These 3 Big Pharma Earnings Reports Wasn’t the Beat

Key Points

• Investors looked past AbbVie’s earnings miss, focusing instead on its 12th consecutive revenue beat and raised full-year guidance fueled by massive growth in its immunology drugs.
• High-margin sectors—specifically Oncology, Rare Disease, and Specialty Medicines—drove double-digit growth for AstraZeneca and GSK, signaling where the sector's true strength lies.
• While healthcare is the S&P 500's worst-performing sector YTD, these three stocks remain top picks for income investors.

Earnings season is in full swing, and on April 29, three Big Pharma mainstays reported Q1 2026 earnings. Investors were looking for strong results—and strong guidance—that could serve as a sorely needed tailwind for the healthcare sector.

So far in 2026, that corner of the market has been the S&P 500’s worst-performer among its 11 sectors. The defensive stocks that call healthcare home have been largely left out of this year’s market rotation, and that has resulted in a year-to-date (YTD) loss of nearly 8%.

But on Wednesday, AbbVie NYSE: ABBV, AstraZeneca NYSE: AZN, and GSK NYSE: GSK did not disappoint. All three companies exceeded top-line expectations and saw their shares jump as the market reacted positively to guidance.

Here’s what investors need to know about those mega-cap companies’ earnings, and whether they will be able to help the flailing healthcare sector reverse course and move higher.

AbbVie’s Earnings Beat Gains Attention After Guidance Lift

Shares of AbbVie gained more than 11% from Wednesday’s market open to midday trading on Thursday after the company reported a top- and bottom-line beat. The drugmaker—known for its line of treatments including Skyrizi, Rinvoq, Humira, and Botox—posted its fifth earnings beat in six quarters.

Q1 earnings per share (EPS) of $2.65 surpassed analyst expectations of $2.59. But the bigger story was revenue of $15 billion, which represents more than 12% year-over-year (YOY) growth and marks AbbVie’s 12th consecutive quarterly revenue beat.

The third-largest pharmaceutical company by market cap is expected to see EPS growth of nearly 14% over the next year, from $14.21 per share to $16.17 per share. What should stand out the most to investors is management’s optimism looking forward: AbbVie raised its adjusted diluted EPS for full-year 2026 from a range of $13.96 to $14.16 up to $14.08 to $14.28.

A significant driver of that upward revision was momentum in AbbVie’s Immunology segment. Skryrizi sales were up around 29% YOY, while Rinvoq sales climbed nearly 20% YOY, both of which exceeded expectations.

The stock remains down YTD, but analysts see nearly 18% upside potential over the next year. Meanwhile, the Dividend King—which has increased its payout for 53 consecutive years—is currently yielding 3.33%, or $6.92 per share annually, making the stock a fit for both growth and income portfolios.

AstraZeneca Beats on Top and Bottom Lines, Maintains Guidance

While shares of AstraZeneca pushed higher in the wake of the company’s earnings call, gains were tempered compared to those of AbbVie.

Nonetheless, the drugmaker—known for its line of oncology treatments and cholesterol drug Crestor—gave shareholders something to celebrate when it reported a double beat for Q1.

EPS of $2.58 exceeded analyst expectations by seven cents, and quarterly revenue of $15.29 billion was above consensus estimates of $14.98 billion. Revenue growth was steady at 8% YOY, and the company has now only missed on earnings once in the past eight quarters.

In his earnings call comments, CEO Pascal Soriot noted that operating profit showed strong YOY growth of 12%, adding that “oncology and rare disease saw strong double-digit growth.” While CapEx is expected to rise around 33% in 2026 and milestone payments should reach $2.5 billion, management reiterated guidance, including $80 billion in revenue.

ANZ has been volatile this year, but its still in positive territory with its roughly 1% YTD performance. Over the next year, EPS is expected to grow nearly 13%. AstraZeneca’s dividend currently yields 2.35%, or $4.34 per share annually.

GSK Shows Strong Specialty Drug Growth, Reaffirms Long-Term Outlook

Best known for its leading portfolio of vaccines and respiratory drugs—including shingles vaccine Shingrix, HIV treatments Dovatoand Triumeq, and asthma/COPD therapies Trelegy Ellipta and Advair—GSK’s performance has been a mixed bag this year.

Shares fell by more than 8% in the lead-up to the April 29 results but recovered nearly 5% through midday trading on April 30. That was driven by top- and bottom-line beats, with EPS of $1.26 surpassing expectations of $1.16, and revenue of $10.3 billion surpassing estimates of $10.23 billion.

GSK reaffirmed its 2026 guidance, forecasting between 7% and 9% EPS growth, alongside operating profit growth of 7% to 9%. In his earnings call comments, CEO Luke Miels highlighted 14% sales growth in the company’s Speciality Medicines segment, alongside operating YOY profit growth of 10% and YOY EPS growth of 9%.

Shares of GSK currently pay a 3.59% dividend, or $1.88 per share annually. However, the company’s five-year dividend growth rate of negative 7.86% makes it less appealing to income investors than AstraZeneca and AbbVie.