Q3 Earnings Season Preview: How Prism Turns October Volatility into Action

Q3 earnings season kicks off October 14–18, 2025, with the week of October 15 as the peak. This is one of the most market-moving weeks of the year. You need signal, not noise. This quarter marks more than just earnings season, it also coincides with the launch of Tradesk Prism, our new fully integrated AI agent inside the Tradesk app.

Prism turns earnings weeks into action:

• Analyze Portfolios in Seconds: see your top potential earnings winners and losers instantly.
• Get Real-Time Market Pulse: stay ahead of breaking results, call transcripts, and trend shifts.
• Compare Stocks Instantly: benchmark companies against peers reporting the same week.
• From Insight to Action—Fast: confirm the take and execute in one flow.

Prism is live for a select group of valued partners. Request early access on the sign-up page to use Prism through Q3 earnings.

Why Q3 Earnings Matter

Q3 bridges late-summer fundamentals with holiday guidance. It shapes year-end positioning, sector rotation, and risk appetite before the November FOMC meeting.

Prism in action: run a Portfolio Scan before the week begins to surface concentrations by sector, factor, and single-name risk tied to the companies reporting. Set Pulse Alerts so you see revisions and guidance comments as they hit.

Macroeconomic Factors Shaping Q3 Earnings

Several forces may drive results and reactions this quarter:

• Interest Rates and Credit Conditions. Higher rates raise borrowing costs for companies and consumers, pressuring growth-sensitive names.
  Prism use: track management commentary that mentions “rate sensitivity,” “refi,” or “credit quality,” then compare banks on net interest income and charge-offs.
• Consumer Spending and Inflation. Inflation has cooled but not disappeared. Holiday outlooks from retailers will matter more than usual.
  Prism use: create a Retail Watchlist and let Prism flag same-store sales trends and traffic vs ticket size across Walmart, Target, Costco, Nike, and Home Depot.
• Global Growth and Trade. Europe and Asia are uneven. Exporters and global cloud providers may show mixed demand.
  Prism use: compare regional exposure across semis, hardware, and industrials. Prism’s Peer Compare shows revenue by geography side by side.
• Energy Prices and Geopolitics. Mid-year energy costs and geopolitical shocks remain wild cards.
  Prism use: map portfolio beta to oil and gas and set Market Pulse triggers for WTI and Henry Hub thresholds that historically move your names.

Key Earnings Report Dates

(Tentative. Dates can shift.)

Technology — AI, cloud, devices, digital ads

• Apple (AAPL) Oct 15
• Microsoft (MSFT) Oct 16
• Alphabet (GOOGL) Oct 16
• NVIDIA (NVDA) Oct 17
• Amazon (AMZN) Oct 17

Prism playbook for tech:

1. Run Peer Compare on AI mentions, capex, and cloud growth across MSFT, AMZN, and GOOGL.
2. Use Market Pulse to surface any guidance changes in real time.
3. Hit From Insight to Action to adjust allocations if cloud growth or ad spend surprises.

Financials — credit health, lending, capital markets

• JPMorgan (JPM) Oct 14
• Bank of America (BAC) Oct 15
• Goldman Sachs (GS) Oct 15
• Morgan Stanley (MS) Oct 16
• Wells Fargo (WFC) Oct 16

Prism playbook for banks:

1. Scan net interest income vs deposit beta by name.
2. Benchmark credit costs and provision trends.
3. If IB pipelines or trading revenues surprise, use Compare Stocks Instantly to see who benefits most and rebalance with one tap.

Retail and Consumer — early holiday signals

• Walmart (WMT) Oct 17
• Target (TGT) Oct 17
• Costco (COST) Oct 18
• Nike (NKE) Oct 18
• Home Depot (HD) Oct 18

Prism playbook for retail:

1. Track traffic vs ticket and inventory commentary across WMT, TGT, COST.
2. Use Portfolio Analysis to find your most sensitive consumer exposure.
3. If guidance leans cautious, rotate via From Insight to Action into staples or names with pricing power.

Mid-Cap Growth — high-volatility setups

• Roku (ROKU) Oct 18
• DraftKings (DKNG) Oct 18
• Palantir (PLTR) Oct 18
• Snowflake (SNOW) Oct 18

Prism playbook for mid-caps:

1. Monitor user growth, net adds, and NRR in real time.
2. Use Peer Compare to check valuation vs growth deceleration.
3. If prints are messy but guidance clarifies the path, capture momentum with a tight risk plan from the same screen.

Market Themes to Track

• AI and Cloud Momentum. Enterprise demand resilience and AI workload growth remain key.
  Prism move: create a keyword lens for “AI training,” “inference,” “GPU supply,” “cloud optimization.” Prism pushes call-out snippets to your feed.
• Consumer Under Pressure. Discretionary vs staples spread matters.
  Prism move: real-time baskets show which sub-sectors lead after prints. Rotate with From Insight to Action if the tone shifts.
• Financial Sector Health. Loan growth, deposit mix, and fee income vs credit costs.
  Prism move: side-by-side comparisons expose who is winning deposits versus paying up for them.
• Energy Volatility. Input costs and fuel surcharges ripple into transports and manufacturers.
  Prism move: set Pulse Alerts tied to crude and RBOB levels that historically correlate with margin changes in your names.

Countdown To Kickoff: A Practical Workflow In Prism

1. T-5 days: run and analyze your portfolios in seconds. Identify names reporting this week, size exposures, and tag at-risk positions.
2. T-3 days: set market alerts for each name and sector keywords. Add consensus metrics you care about: revenue growth, EPS, margin, FCF.
3. T-1 day: Compare stocks Instantly to benchmark each reporter against two peers. Note valuation gaps.
4. Earnings morning: monitor pre-market revisions. Mark catalysts in your plan.
5. Post-print: Go from insight to action if the thesis changes. Scale winners, trim laggards, or rotate into sector ETFs if leadership broadens.

Trading Strategies For Q3 Earnings Season

1. Pre-earnings positioning
Review expectations vs historical beats. Watch implied volatility.
Prism application: Peer Compare shows who historically beats on revenue vs EPS, and Portfolio Analysis flags where IV is pricing extreme moves.

2. Post-earnings momentum
Clean beats often run. Quality misses can set up reversals.
Prism application: Pulse tags guidance tone and surprises; one-screen execution lets you move quickly while spreads are tight.

3. Options tactics
Straddles or strangles for volatility. Protective puts for single-name risk.
Prism application: IV trend tiles and historical move ranges help decide structure and sizing before you route.

4. Sector rotation and ETFs
If tech or financials lead, use liquids like QQQ or XLF to express the view.
Prism application: Sector heatmaps update live. Rotate with a single confirmation from the same view.

5. Risk discipline
Define exits before entries.
Prism application: save rules to the ticket so your exits are embedded when you trade.

What Makes Prism Different During Earnings

• It is embedded in your trading workflow. No tab-hopping.
• It ties portfolio context to live narrative from prints and calls.
• It compresses the loop from data to decision to execution into seconds.

Prism is available now to a limited set of partners. Request early access on the sign-up page and run this entire Q3 workflow inside one system.