Earnings Gap-Up Review: July 9 – September 25, 2026 (85 Names, 20%+ Gaps)

85 names (market cap ≥$100M) gapped up 20%+ on earnings between July 9 and September 25, 2026 — the heart of summer earnings season. As with the last review, the question isn't "who popped," it's "who kept it." The real story of the period belongs to Capricor Therapeutics (CAPR) — a stock that had already been cut to pieces by an FDA advisory panel three weeks before this window even opens, then used its earnings date to stage one of the most convincing recoveries on the list.

The method

Same as last time: initial gap% (open vs. prior close on the reaction day) compared against the total return from the pre-earnings base price to today (9/28/26) — the follow-through ratio. Above 1.0x means the stock kept compounding after the pop; below 1.0x means it gave part of the gap back; negative means it fully round-tripped into red.

Since-Earnings% is calculated against the price currently trading (as of today, 9/28/26), same as the ratio built from it — that's why the column below is explicitly labeled with today's date rather than a fixed "as of" snapshot from the old article. As more time passes, these numbers will keep moving; treat this table as a snapshot taken three days after the scan window closed.

Note: these are raw price-based returns — not adjusted for stock splits or other corporate actions, so an extreme outlier can occasionally reflect a split rather than a real move.

Full ranked list — follow-through ratio (best to worst)

(FEIM, ODD, AENT, AOUT, CHPT, TLYS, WOOF, SNOW, GTLB, ESTC, SCSC, NSSC are 18–39 days out — smaller since-earnings sample than the rest; treat their ratios as provisional, especially the sub-25-day names.)

Group 1 — Beaten-down biotech/medtech re-rating (the strongest cluster on the list)

RCEL (5.63x), IOVA (4.14x), XGN (3.78x), HTFL (2.26x), CAPR (1.20x), CORT (1.22x), ETON (1.19x), NTRA (2.65x), INSP (1.53x)

This is the best-performing theme of the summer, and it's anchored by the single most interesting story on the entire list: Capricor Therapeutics (CAPR). Three weeks before this scan window even opens, CAPR was crushed — an FDA briefing document released July 27 challenged the statistical validity of its Deramiocel Phase 3 (HOPE-3) data, and on July 29 an FDA advisory committee voted 9-3 against finding substantial evidence of effectiveness for the Duchenne muscular dystrophy cardiomyopathy indication. The stock fell from $22.43 (July 6) to roughly $4.17 by early August — an ~81% collapse. Then, on its August 13 earnings date, two things happened at once: Capricor reported Q2 results and disclosed the FDA had agreed to review an amended BLA refocused on upper-limb function using 24-month HOPE-3 data, with the PDUFA date extended to August 22. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded to Overweight with a price target hike from $3.50 to $28; other desks followed. The stock gapped 81.9% on the news and — unlike most of the extreme-gap names on this list — held nearly all of it, +98.6% since, a 1.20x ratio. The lesson: a post-panel-rejection crash isn't necessarily terminal if the company can show the FDA is still willing to engage with a narrower path forward, and the market will pay up fast for that signal even before final approval.

The rest of the group is more conventional but no less real: Iovance (IOVA) beat on both lines (EPS -$0.11 vs -$0.1216 est, revenue $99.3M vs $87.8M est, +13.1% beat) as its melanoma cell therapy Amtagvi continues its international rollout (Australian TGA marketing authorization landed in June, ahead of the print) — a genuine multi-catalyst re-rating, not a one-day pop. Natera (NTRA), at a $59B market cap, put up a real beat (revenue +13.8%) and is still compounding at 2.65x — a reminder that "small-cap-and-up" doesn't mean the mega-caps in this dataset can't keep running too.

Group 2 — Software/SaaS: the same names, back for another leg

TEAM (2.22x), TWLO (1.96x), OKTA (1.92x), IBTA (2.73x), PUBM (1.32x), PAYC (1.20x)
Faders: SNOW (0.42x), SHOP (0.71x), APPS (0.66x), SOUN (-0.23x), MITK (0.23x), ESTC (0.22x), GTLB (0.17x), QLYS (0.30x)

The standout thread here isn't any single name — it's that TEAM (Atlassian) and TWLO (Twilio) are repeat entries. Both were in the April–July review's "beaten-down SaaS snapback" cluster (TEAM 1.54x, TWLO 2.37x back then). Both reported again in this window (TEAM August 6: EPS $1.87 vs $1.50 est, +24.7% beat, revenue +6.2%; TWLO August 6: EPS $1.47 vs $1.32, +11.4%, revenue +4.8%) and gapped 20%+ again — and both are still compounding on this second leg. That's a genuine recurring-momentum tell, not a coincidence: a name that already re-rated once on a beat-and-raise and keeps doing it on subsequent prints is exactly the kind of standing scan the prior article recommended building.

SoundHound AI (SOUN) is the one name in this group worth flagging for a different reason. It beat on both lines August 5 (revenue +18.2%), but on September 4 it closed its acquisition of LivePerson — and the same week filed a registration statement covering the resale of shares issued to former LivePerson holders. That's fresh share supply hitting the market almost immediately after the earnings pop, and it's a big part of why a real beat still shows a -0.23x ratio.

Group 3 — AI-capex/semis and datacenter infrastructure: mostly holding, one notable outlier

Winners: FORM (2.50x), COHU (1.83x), AXTI (1.62x), SIMO (1.32x), AEHR (1.24x)
Roughly flat: LRCX (0.95x), SITM (0.84x)
Outlier: CRWV (-0.15x)

This group is healthier than the same theme was in the April–July window, where the coin-flip was closer to 50/50. FormFactor (FORM) posted a clean beat (EPS +34.6%, revenue +7.6%) tied to AI-test-equipment demand and has held over half its gap. AXT (AXTI) continues to benefit from GaAs-substrate demand tied to CHIPS Act-era capex.

CoreWeave (CRWV) is the exception and worth a closer look given its size ($47.8B market cap). It beat modestly on August 11 (EPS -$1.03 vs -$1.21 est, revenue essentially in-line at +0.8%) and gapped 20.3% — but has since given it all back. In the weeks after the print, CoreWeave has been raising capital aggressively on two fronts: a new $3.7B convertible senior notes offering (2.875% coupon, maturing 2033, priced September 18) and a new at-the-market equity distribution agreement with Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan (filed September 17). Debt and equity issuance stacked back-to-back right after an earnings gap is the same supply-overhang pattern behind the STRL/DY fade in the last review's "AI-capex builders" group — the theme is real, but the names running hardest on the balance sheet are the ones most likely to give the pop back.

Group 4 — Small-cap industrials: two real turnaround stories, one activist situation

MTW (2.71x), TISI (2.81x), PLPC (2.20x), PSIX (1.94x), TBI (1.09x)
Faders: VATE (0.10x), ASPN (0.09x), AMRC (-0.14x), SWIM (0.43x), NSSC (-0.30x), CMCO (0.41x)

Team Inc. (TISI) is a genuine distressed-turnaround story: EPS improved from a $5.94/share estimated loss to a $1.73/share actual loss (still red, but a massive narrowing), and on August 11 — the day after earnings — the company disclosed board rights granted to Corre Partners, a distressed-credit-focused activist. That combination (fundamentals improving + an activist now holding board seats) is the same mechanic behind XRX/PACK's continuation in the prior review's deep-value group.

Ameresco (AMRC) is the cautionary case. It beat on revenue (+10.8%) on August 3, but the weeks since have brought a wave of executive departures: a director resignation and an EVP resignation (both disclosed August 19), followed by the CFO's resignation on September 10 (effective September 25). Management churn immediately after a beat-and-raise is a real reason for institutional money to fade the print regardless of the numbers, and AMRC's -0.14x reflects that.

Group 5 — Consumer/retail: mostly forgettable, one real turnaround

Held up: CHPT (2.19x), AOUT (2.74x), HNST (1.38x), MED (1.06x), ANF (1.19x)
Faded/round-tripped: TLYS (0.26x), FNKO (0.14x), PLBY (-0.45x), WOOF (-0.67x), BLMN (-0.33x), W (0.43x), FIGS (0.55x)

ChargePoint (CHPT) is the standout: a real, if modest, revenue beat (+2.8%) for an EV-charging name that's spent most of the last two years being left for dead, and the stock has more than doubled its initial gap. It's the same shape as the prior review's XRX/PACK "real balance-sheet story vs. pure squeeze" split — worth watching whether it's durable.

Group 6 — Dilution, distress, and priced-for-perfection: the follow-through killers

BLZE (-0.53x), PWP (-0.09x), VELO (-0.70x), HLIT (-0.40x), WDFC (-0.76x), DOCS (0.31x)

Three of these are straightforward supply-overhang stories, the same pattern that wrecked EOSE in the last review. Backblaze (BLZE) beat on both lines August 3 (EPS +367% surprise, revenue +7%) but priced a convertible notes offering with capped-call transactions on August 19 — fresh dilution stacked on top of the good print. Perella Weinberg (PWP) beat huge (EPS +264%) on July 31, then in early September saw large blocks of insider/early-holder shares registered for resale and exchanged out of OpCo units — an unlock, not a fundamental change. Velo3D (VELO) is the weakest name in the group on fundamentals alone: an actual EPS miss (-12.1% vs. estimate) despite a revenue beat, on top of a company that terminated its relationship with its banker (Needham) earlier in the year — a distressed-balance-sheet name that shouldn't have been trusted on the gap in the first place.

Harmonic (HLIT) beat cleanly (EPS +42.6%, revenue +10.4%) but is mid-divestiture — it sold its legacy Video business (disclosed as a completed $145M transaction in June) and then flagged a late quarterly filing on August 12 tied to the accounting complexity of that sale. Restructuring-driven reporting uncertainty ate the pop even though the underlying beat was real.

WD-40 (WDFC) is the most sobering name on the whole list, and it's the oldest position (81 days). This was not a marginal beat: EPS of $2.33 vs. $1.59 estimated (+47% surprise), net sales +24% year-over-year, operating income +47%, and full-year guidance raised on the day. The stock popped 14% on the print. And it has still fully round-tripped, -16.8% since, a -0.76x ratio — the single worst outcome on the entire list, worse than any name that actually missed or diluted. There's no financing event, no executive churn, no bad follow-up news in the record — just a boring, high-quality small-cap industrial name that had nowhere to go once the sugar-high wore off, in a summer where capital kept rotating toward AI-adjacent growth instead.

Doximity (DOCS) is the mirror image and the biggest single-day gap on the list (88.1%). The August 6 print featured a technical EPS miss ($0.29 vs. $0.30 est) but a revenue beat, a full-year guidance raise, and heavy emphasis on AI product traction (Doximity Ask logging the lowest clinical-error rate in a published benchmark, AI Search query growth >25% quarter-over-quarter). The stock jumped from a $20.66 close to $37.49 after-hours — essentially the entire move happened on the AI narrative in one session — and has been fading steadily since, now holding only 0.31x of that pop. When the entire re-rating happens in an after-hours session on a narrative rather than a multi-day grind on numbers, the durability tends to be lower.

Bottom line / how I'd use this going forward

1. A crushed biotech can still re-rate on regulatory process news, not just a final approval. CAPR's move wasn't about Deramiocel getting approved — it was about the FDA agreeing to keep talking, and that alone drove an 80%+ move with real analyst-target follow-through. Watch for "FDA agrees to review amended filing" language specifically; it's a distinct, tradeable category separate from an approval or a rejection.
2. Repeat gappers are a real signal. TEAM and TWLO both re-appeared on this list after being on the April–July one, and both are still compounding on the new leg. Track tickers that show up on consecutive quarterly scans — that's the closest thing in this dataset to a standing edge.
3. Check the 8-K feed for financing activity in the weeks after a gap, every time. BLZE, PWP, CRWV, and SOUN all had real, confirmed beats and all gave the pop back — every one of them had a capital raise, share unlock, or dilutive M&A closing within weeks of the print. This is the single most consistent explanation for a good-beat-bad-outcome across the whole list.
4. The size of the beat doesn't protect you from the wrong sector or the wrong starting multiple. WD-40 put up one of the cleanest quarters on this entire list and fully round-tripped anyway. In a summer where capital rotated hard toward AI-adjacent names, a boring small-cap industrial beating estimates by 47% still couldn't hold a bid. Check where the market's attention is before assuming a good number buys you a durable move.