Key Highlights

● Gilead climbed on Friday, October 30, 2026, after a strong third quarter.

● Non-GAAP Earnings of $2.55 a share beat estimates of about $1.78.

● The company raised 2026 product sales guidance to $31.0 billion to $31.3 billion.

● A $12.4 billion research charge pushed earnings guidance into negative territory.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) climbed on Friday, October 30, 2026, after a third quarter that comfortably beat Wall Street's forecasts. The Foster City, California-based drugmaker reported non-GAAP earnings of $2.55 a share, well above the roughly $1.78 analysts had expected. Revenue reached $8.30 billion, against a consensus of about $7.8 billion.

The HIV franchise, Gilead's largest business, grew strongly. The company raised its full-year 2026 product sales forecast to $31.0 billion to $31.3 billion, up from $30.1 billion to $30.4 billion.

The catch in the guidance

Not everything pointed up. Gilead cut its full-year 2026 earnings guidance to a range of a loss of $1.20 to a loss of 85 cents a share, reflecting $12.4 billion of acquired in-process research and development. Charges of that kind are tied to purchases of experimental drug programs and are booked as expenses.

Management also flagged a longer-term headwind: it expects Medicare pricing for Biktarvy, its top HIV treatment, to reduce net revenue by $1.5 billion a year starting in 2028.

Investors looked past both issues on Friday, focusing on the quarter's strength and the higher sales outlook.

Health care leads

Gilead's move was part of a broad rally in health care, which hit a record high, according to market data. Six of the S&P 500's 11 sectors rose as money rotated out of technology and into defensive groups.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN) led the S&P 500 after third-quarter revenue of $5.12 billion beat the $4.54 billion forecast. AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) hit a 52-week high after raising its full-year adjusted earnings guidance to $13.95 to $13.99 a share. "AbbVie continues to deliver outstanding results, reflecting solid execution across our diverse portfolio," said Robert A. Michael, AbbVie's chairman and CEO. Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) also reached 52-week highs.

Tech took the hit

The rotation was a reaction to a punishing day for technology. The S&P 500 fell 140.32 points to 7,580.07, the Nasdaq Composite dropped 747.73 points to 25,437.00 for its worst day since June 5, and the Nasdaq-100 closed at 28,384.85. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 572.25 points to 51,770.31.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)'s weak fourth-quarter guidance and cash-burn warning set off a rout in semiconductors. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)'s trailing free Cash Flow of negative $42.4 billion and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)'s record selloff on Thursday added to worries that AI spending is outpacing cash generation. "A lot of them kind of got ahead of themselves. It's all earnings based and right now, they're not producing," a trading specialist said.

Gilead offered the opposite profile: a profitable quarter well ahead of forecasts and a higher revenue outlook.

What to watch

Investors will look for more detail on the programs behind the $12.4 billion research charge and on how Gilead plans to manage the Biktarvy pricing impact from 2028. Fourth-quarter product sales will show whether the company stays on track for its raised $31.0 billion to $31.3 billion range.

For the sector, Pfizer reports Tuesday, November 3, the same day as the midterm elections. The October jobs report follows on Friday, November 6. The Federal Reserve held its benchmark rate range steady this week, and markets have priced in a December hike. Those events will help determine whether health care's Leadership holds or whether money flows back toward technology.