At roughly 4:10 PM Eastern on June 2, 2026, two earnings reports landed almost simultaneously β€” and by the time pre-market opened the next morning, both stocks had moved more in a few hours than most investments move in a year. Marvell Technology (MRVL) surged 32.52%, adding over $65 billion in market cap in a single session. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) jumped 19.47%, with analysts at BofA, Raymond James, and Morgan Stanley racing to raise price targets by as much as 150% overnight. (Sources: StockAnalysis MRVL, StockAnalysis HPE)

For traders who had studied these companies, knew the earnings dates, and were sized into the right positions, June 2 was a career-defining session. For those watching from the sidelines, it felt like watching a plane take off that they were supposed to be on. The difference between those two groups is almost never luck β€” it is process. This guide gives you that process, anchored in what actually happened that day.

What an Earnings Report Actually Is (and Why It Moves Stocks So Violently)

Every US-listed company is required by the SEC to report its financial results every quarter β€” revenue, net income, earnings per share (EPS), and critically, forward guidance for the next quarter. These reports are the single most powerful scheduled catalyst in all of trading.

Stocks move on earnings for two primary reasons:

  • The surprise factor: Wall Street analysts publish consensus estimates for revenue and EPS ahead of results. When a company beats those estimates β€” especially by a wide margin β€” the stock gaps up as investors reprice the business upward. When it misses, it gaps down. The bigger the miss or beat relative to what was priced in, the bigger the move.
  • Forward guidance: This is often more important than the actual quarter. A company can beat past estimates and still crash its stock by guiding the next quarter lower. Conversely, a mild beat with a massive guidance raise can produce the biggest moves. HPE's Q2 2026 results are a textbook example: the company reported 40% revenue growth and 108% EPS growth year-over-year, then raised its fiscal 2026 and 2027 outlooks β€” two years of targets pulled forward. That combination is what drove a 25–29% single-session surge. (Source: HPE Earnings Call Transcript, StockAnalysis)

MRVL told an even more dramatic story. Revenue came in at $2.42 billion for Q1 FY2027, up 42% year-over-year, with earnings of $718 million. The company raised annual revenue guidance to $11.5 billion for fiscal 2026 and $16.5 billion for the following year β€” numbers that shocked a Street that had modeled roughly $8.2B for FY2026. (Source: MRVL Financials, StockAnalysis; MRVL Analyst Forecast, StockAnalysis) Then, at the COMPUTEX 2026 conference in Taipei, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang took the stage alongside MRVL CEO Matthew Murphy and publicly declared Marvell "the next trillion-dollar company" β€” adding rocket fuel to an already strong beat. (Source: Yahoo Finance MRVL; reported simultaneously by Reuters, CNBC, WSJ, Forbes, Bloomberg)

Step 1: Find the Earnings Date β€” Before You Do Anything Else

The most basic mistake new traders make is not knowing exactly when a company reports. Stocks often begin moving 1–3 days before earnings as institutional traders and algorithms start positioning. If you buy on the day of the report without knowing this, you may already be buying into a stock that has priced in the good news β€” meaning your upside is capped while your downside from a miss is unlimited.

The most reliable ways to find an earnings date:

  • Yahoo Finance Earnings Calendar β€” Search any ticker, look for the "Earnings Date" in the summary stats. Also shows whether the report is before market open (BMO) or after market close (AMC).
  • Earnings Whispers β€” Shows the official date, the analyst consensus estimate, and the "whisper number" (the true street expectation that differs from the published consensus). The gap between these two numbers is often where the trade lives.
  • The company's Investor Relations page β€” Most reliable for exact time (to the minute) and the conference call dial-in. MRVL's IR page is at marvell.com/company/investors.
  • StockAnalysis.com β€” Shows the confirmed earnings date prominently on each stock's overview page, with historical EPS beat/miss history.

MRVL's Q1 FY2027 earnings were reported after the close on June 1, 2026 (confirmed date). By the morning of June 2, the pre-market had already priced in a 25% surge before regular trading even opened β€” by close that day, the gain was 32.52%.

Step 2: Measure the "Expected Move" Before Taking Any Position

The options market prices in uncertainty before earnings in the form of elevated implied volatility (IV). From this, you can extract the expected move β€” the range the options market thinks the stock will trade within after results. The simplified formula is:

Expected Move β‰ˆ Stock Price Γ— Implied Volatility Γ— √(Days to Earnings Γ· 365)

Most brokers calculate this automatically. On Thinkorswim (TD Ameritrade), it appears directly on the options chain. On Tastytrade and Interactive Brokers, it shows as the "expected move" widget on the trade page.

Why does this matter? Because MRVL's actual move of 32.52% was far larger than the options market's expected move heading into earnings. This tells you two things in hindsight: (1) call buyers who paid for upside were massively rewarded because the stock moved beyond what was priced in, and (2) premium sellers who expected a smaller move got badly burned. Knowing the expected move before the event tells you whether the options market is already pricing in a big move β€” or whether the market is complacent, creating a potential opportunity.

Step 3: The Three Main Earnings Trading Strategies

There is no single correct way to trade earnings. The right approach depends on your conviction level, account size, and risk tolerance. Here are the three frameworks used most by professional traders:

Strategy A: Buy Into Earnings (Directional Bet)

This means taking a position β€” shares or options β€” before the report drops, betting on a specific outcome. It is the highest-risk, highest-reward approach. Traders who held MRVL call options into June 2 made 3–5Γ— on those options overnight based on the magnitude of the move. But if the stock had missed and dropped 20%, those same options would have expired worthless.

When it makes sense: When you have done sector-level research that gives you genuine conviction. In the case of MRVL, the thesis was trackable: custom ASIC chip demand from hyperscalers (Amazon, Google, Microsoft) was accelerating visibly through the supply chain, and NVIDIA's own earnings had already flagged this weeks earlier. Traders who connected those dots had real edge, not just guesswork.

Size rule: Never put more than 3–5% of your total account into a single earnings bet, regardless of how confident you feel.

Strategy B: Sell Before the Report (The "Sell the News" Approach)

Many professional traders who build positions over weeks or months ahead of earnings will sell the day before results β€” locking in gains and avoiding the binary outcome entirely. This strategy accepts giving up potential upside in exchange for eliminating gap-down risk.

When it makes sense: When a stock has already run hard into earnings (MRVL was up 158% YTD before the June 2 earnings β€” Source: StockAnalysis) and the risk/reward of holding through results is no longer favorable. If the run-up has already priced in a strong beat, even a beat can cause a "sell the news" reaction.

Strategy C: Wait and Trade the Gap After Results

This is where the majority of experienced earnings traders focus their energy. Wait for the report to land, let the initial reaction play out, and then trade the resulting price action. This eliminates the binary overnight risk entirely.

There are two sub-strategies within this approach:

  • Gap and go: When a stock gaps up strongly (as MRVL did, opening up ~15% in pre-market and continuing to rise all day), you buy early in the session and ride the momentum. Strong gaps on massive volume that hold above the overnight high are usually continuation setups. MRVL opened at $253 on June 2 and closed at $290.79 β€” a gap-and-go that held all day. By the next morning in pre-market, it was trading at $324, up another 11%. (Source: StockAnalysis MRVL real-time data)
  • Gap fill trade: Some stocks that gap up sharply will pull back to fill part or all of the gap before resuming upward. Waiting for that pullback β€” to a key support level, a moving average, or the previous close β€” gives a lower-risk entry with a well-defined stop-loss.

Step 4: How to Use Options Around Earnings (and the Trap to Avoid)

Options are the most popular instrument for earnings trades because they cap your maximum loss at the premium paid while giving you leveraged upside. But they come with a specific danger: implied volatility crush.

Before earnings, options are expensive β€” implied volatility is elevated because of uncertainty. The moment the report hits the wire, that uncertainty is resolved and IV collapses, sometimes by 40–60% in minutes. This means you can buy a call option, be perfectly right about the direction, and still lose money because the IV crush offset your directional gains.

The HPE trade provides a real example of how to win. TheFly reported that a call buyer who purchased HPE 6/5 weekly $50 calls at $3.05 the day before earnings, when the stock was at $45.27, realized 51% same-day gains as HPE surged through $50. (Source: Yahoo Finance options activity) That worked because the magnitude of the move (19–25%) was large enough to overwhelm the IV crush on those near-the-money short-dated options.

General options rules for earnings:

  • Use spreads to reduce net premium paid. A bull call spread (buy a $250 call, sell a $280 call on MRVL) reduces your cost basis and limits IV crush damage. You cap your upside but also dramatically reduce the premium at risk.
  • Buy options at least 30–45 days to expiration for companies where you are directional but uncertain on timing. Weekly options around earnings are for high-conviction, high-skill traders only.
  • Consider selling premium if you think the move will be smaller than expected. If the options market prices in a Β±10% move and you believe the stock will move Β±5%, selling a strangle or iron condor profits from that mismatch. This strategy requires precise risk management because an unexpected large move (like MRVL's 32%) is catastrophic for a strangle seller.

Step 5: Position Sizing and Non-Negotiable Risk Rules

More trading accounts are destroyed during earnings season than at any other point in the year. These rules are non-negotiable:

  • Maximum 2% account risk per earnings trade. A 32% single-session gain is remarkable β€” but a 32% single-session loss on an oversized position could take months of gains with it. Earnings are binary events. Size accordingly.
  • Know your exit before you enter. If you are buying pre-earnings, decide in advance: if the stock drops X% at the open after a miss, you are out. No exceptions. Earnings moves are violent and fast. You will not have time to think rationally in the moment.
  • Stick to liquid stocks with high options volume. Thinly traded small-caps have wide bid-ask spreads on their options that can cost you 10–15% before the stock even moves. MRVL trades over 100 million shares on an average earnings day β€” the spreads are tight and you can get in and out efficiently. (Source: Yahoo Finance Most Active)
  • Never scale up position size because you feel more confident. Confidence and position size should remain independent of each other. Every trader who has blown up an account around earnings was extremely confident beforehand.

Step 6: How to Read the Earnings Report in Real Time

If you are an active trader, you need to know exactly what to look for the moment results are published β€” typically after market close between 4:00 and 4:30 PM Eastern, or before the open at 7:00–8:00 AM Eastern. The sequence to check:

  1. EPS vs. analyst consensus: Beat by how much? A $0.01 beat is noise. A $0.20 beat on $0.50 expected EPS is 40% upside surprise β€” significant.
  2. Revenue vs. consensus: Top-line growth validates that the business is expanding, not just cutting costs. MRVL's 42% revenue growth YoY was the headline that mattered most.
  3. Next-quarter guidance: This single line item often moves the stock more than any other number. A company can beat past estimates and crash its stock by guiding the next quarter lower. Read this first.
  4. Gross margin trend: Expanding margins (MRVL: 51% β†’ forecast 58.66% next year β€” Source: StockAnalysis MRVL Financials) signal pricing power and competitive moat. Compressing margins on strong revenue growth is a yellow flag.
  5. Management tone on the conference call: Listen for words like "headwinds," "macro uncertainty," "customers pushing out orders," or "inventory correction." These phrases often predict downside in the next quarter even when current numbers look strong. HPE CEO Antonio Neri used the phrase "results are durable" on the Q2 2026 call β€” a confident signal that guided the stock's continued move. (Source: HPE Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript via StockAnalysis)

The Full Case Study: MRVL and HPE, June 1–3, 2026

Let's walk through exactly what happened and what a prepared trader would have done at each step:

One week before (May 25–31): Sector data was already pointing to AI infrastructure strength. NVIDIA's own earnings weeks earlier had flagged exploding demand for custom ASICs and networking chips. Traders tracking the semiconductor supply chain could see demand signals at TSMC and ASE Technology. MRVL was trading around $220 β€” already up 158% YTD β€” with earnings expected the week of June 1. (Source: StockAnalysis MRVL)

June 1 (earnings day): MRVL reports after the close. Revenue $2.42B, earnings $718M, both above consensus. Annual guidance raised to $11.5B. At COMPUTEX 2026 in Taipei that evening, Jensen Huang takes the stage and says Marvell could be the "next trillion-dollar company" β€” a statement Reuters, CNBC, WSJ, Forbes, and Bloomberg all lead with within minutes. (Sources: Yahoo Finance MRVL, StockAnalysis news feed)

June 2 pre-market (4:00 AM–9:30 AM): MRVL pre-market opens at $253 β€” up ~15% from previous close of $219. Analyst upgrades flood in. Stifel raises price target from $230 to $321. HPE, which had reported its own blowout Q2 the same day, is trading up 25–29% in pre-market. This is the gap-and-go setup.

June 2 regular session: MRVL opens at $253.46, trades as high as $291.30, closes at $290.79 β€” a 32.52% gain on volume of 101.9 million shares, versus average volume of 29 million. The stock never looked back intraday, a textbook gap-and-go. HPE closes at $56.15, up 19.47%, on 153 million shares. (Source: Yahoo Finance Most Active, June 2, 2026)

June 3 pre-market: MRVL trading at $324 β€” another 11% above the close. Barron's runs a story headlined "FOMO Is Fueling the AI Market Frenzy. Marvell Is Just the Latest Sign." Stifel is now the lowest analyst target on the street. (Source: StockAnalysis MRVL news)

What This Means for Your Trading Plan

Earnings season happens four times a year, and every cycle produces multiple 10–30% single-day moves in both directions. The traders who consistently profit from these moves are not smarter than you β€” they have a more systematic approach. They research the sector before the number drops, they use the right instruments sized appropriately, and they have a specific plan for both a beat and a miss before the report lands.

You do not need to make 32% in a day to build meaningful wealth from earnings trading. A 2% account position in a well-researched earnings play that returns 50% on options is still a meaningful, repeatable win. Build the process, track every trade in a journal, keep the risk small on each individual name, and compound those results over time. The MRVL and HPE moves of June 2, 2026 will happen again β€” in other names, in future quarters. Being ready is entirely within your control.

Data sources used in this article: StockAnalysis (MRVL), StockAnalysis (HPE), MRVL Financials, MRVL Analyst Forecast, Yahoo Finance Most Active, Yahoo Finance MRVL Quote, EarningsWhispers.com. Reported news verified across Reuters, CNBC, WSJ, Forbes, Bloomberg, Barron's, and Investopedia.

Official Resources

For further research, the following official sources provide authoritative information on the topics covered in this article.

  • SEC EDGAR β€” Official SEC database of company earnings filings (10-Q, 10-K, 8-K)
  • SEC Investor Alerts β€” SEC warnings and guidance on earnings-related trading risks
  • FINRA Earnings Resources β€” FINRA investor education on reading and using earnings reports

Sources & Trading Risk Note

This article is for educational purposes only and is not financial advice. Trading involves risk, leveraged products can amplify losses, and market rules or evaluation terms can change. Verify current contract specs, exchange rules, and firm-specific terms before trading.