pricing power
Who raised prices and kept their customers
The ultimate competitive moat test. Companies flagged here are either successfully passing through price increases or explicitly discussing pricing strategy. If they raised prices and retention held, the product has real leverage.
What Executives Are Saying
“We've built a strong foundation, with best-in class cost management and a focus on strengthening the balance sheet. Looking forward, I'm confident that continued investments in our network, customer experience and loyalty program will position us well to drive revenue growth and shareholder value in 2026 and beyond.”
“The American Airlines team is delivering on our commitments.”
“Today, we are proud to report a June quarter revenue record of $94 billion, up 10% from a year ago, which was better than we expected. EPS set a June quarter record of $1.57, up 12% year over year.”
“We see AI as one of the most profound technologies of our lifetime. We are embedding it across our devices and platforms and across the company. We are also significantly growing our investments.”
“In terms of pull forward, we would estimate the pull forward of demand into April specifically to be about one point of the 10 points in terms of people buying because of discussions about tariffs.”
“The vast majority of the iPhones sold in the U.S. have a country of origin of India. And the vast majority of the other products, the Macs, iPad and Watch have a country of origin of Vietnam.”
Companies in This Theme
Amazon is spending aggressively on AI infrastructure — $116B TTM capex — and seeing real returns. AWS re-accelerated to 20% growth, advertising is up 24%, and AI products like Rufus, Connect, and Trainium2 are generating measurable revenue. The FTC settlement and $1.8B severance charge masked what would have been $21.7B in operating income.
Record June quarter at $94B with broad-based growth. iPhone up 13% with a June quarter upgrader record. Services hit all-time high at $27.4B. Tariff headwind is real at $800M this quarter and $1.1B projected next quarter, but Apple is absorbing it within strong margins.
Microsoft Cloud hit $42.4B, up 22% in constant currency. Azure grew 35% cc with 16 points from AI. Non-AI Azure actually outperformed expectations — enterprise migration demand is accelerating alongside AI. Commercial RPO at $315B, up 34%.
Costco is firing on all cylinders. 8.2% net sales growth, 6.4% comp sales, and 20.5% digital growth signal a consumer that's trading down to value. Membership fee income up 14% shows the flywheel is accelerating post-price-increase.
JNJ is firing on both cylinders. Innovative Medicine grew 5.3% operationally with blockbuster oncology and immunology franchises offsetting STELARA biosimilar erosion. MedTech grew 5.6% operationally driven by electrophysiology and cardiovascular. They raised full-year sales guidance from $93.4B to $93.7B midpoint.
KEYTRUDA franchise keeps powering ahead at 10% growth, and WINREVAIR's 141% ramp is validating the cardiovascular expansion thesis. But GARDASIL's 24% decline in China is a structural headwind, not a blip. The $70B+ domestic manufacturing commitment signals long-term confidence but compresses near-term margins.
Record Q3 revenue of $13.7B but still posted a net loss. Unit revenues declining across most regions. Cost pressure from labor (+8.9% YoY) is real, but fuel savings and debt reduction provide a cushion.
Qualcomm posted record QCT revenues with 18% non-Apple growth and 27% combined Automotive+IoT growth. They're expanding into data centers and advanced robotics — new TAM that didn't exist two years ago. The Automotive pipeline is accelerating with their automated driving stack now available.
AEP is riding the biggest demand wave in utility history. 28 GW of new load backed by customer agreements — mostly data centers and industrials — is driving a $72 billion five-year capital plan. Rate base growing at 10% CAGR to $128 billion by 2030. This is infrastructure demand pulling capital forward, not speculation.
Revenue up 14% YoY with growth across all end markets including industrial and automotive. Analog segment leading at 16% growth. Massive capex cycle continues with $4.8B trailing twelve-month capital expenditures positioning TI for long-term capacity dominance.
Airbnb is accelerating on multiple fronts: nights booked re-accelerated to 9% YoY, expansion markets growing 2x core, and Reserve Now Pay Later is unlocking incremental demand. New services/experiences vertical is attracting net-new users—half of experiences bookings are standalone.
Pricing power is strong (+5% price gains) but volume is falling hard (-6% total, -7% in Tools & Outdoor). They're spending tariff-mitigation energy just to stay flat. The cost reduction program is nearly done ($1.9B of $2.0B target) which means the easy margin gains are behind them.
AJG delivered its 19th straight quarter of double-digit top-line growth. Insurance renewal premiums remain in positive territory with no signs of economic slowdown. The $13.8B AssuredPartners acquisition closed and integration is off to a strong start, adding massive scale.
Assurant is firing on all cylinders. Double-digit EBITDA growth across both Global Lifestyle and Global Housing. Connected Living subscriber growth and mobile trade-in performance are accelerating, and lender-placed insurance is benefiting from voluntary insurance market pressure — meaning more homeowners are losing coverage and being forced into Assurant's products.
NVR is facing broad demand erosion: new orders dropped 16%, cancellation rates spiked to 19.4%, and backlog fell 19% YoY. Gross margins compressed 240bps from higher lot costs and pricing pressure driven by affordability constraints. This isn't a blip — it's a multi-quarter deterioration in housing demand fundamentals.
Xylem delivered 8% revenue growth with double-digit gains in two segments and 200bps of EBITDA margin expansion. Raised full-year guidance on both revenue and EPS. Resilient water infrastructure demand and simplification initiatives are compounding.
Avery Dennison is holding steady in a tough environment but organic sales were flat. Materials Group is seeing deflation-related price reductions eating into volumes. Solutions Group is the bright spot with Intelligent Labels growing mid-single digits and Vestcom/Embelex both up double digits.
Box office down 11% YoY in Q3 but AMC gained US market share and hit record admissions revenue per patron of $12.25. Heavy debt load remains the existential risk — $4B in corporate borrowings against negative free cash flow. Q4 film slate is strongest in years.
Hollister is crushing it with 16% growth, but Abercrombie brands are decelerating — down 2% with inventory being managed tightly. Tariffs are eating 210 basis points of operating margin this quarter, with ~$90M full-year tariff expense baked into guidance. Revenue growth is real but profitability is compressing — operating margin dropped from 14.8% to 12.0% YoY.
Allegion is firing on all cylinders: double-digit reported revenue growth, Americas non-residential leading the charge with mid-single-digit organic growth in both resi and non-resi, and they're raising full-year guidance on both revenue and EPS. Tariff costs of ~$40M are being fully offset through pricing actions — no margin squeeze.
CoStar is aggressively investing in Homes.com and integrating Domain and Matterport acquisitions. Net new bookings surged 92% YoY to $84M, and the dedicated Homes.com sales team hit its best quarter ever. Commercial information and marketplace businesses delivered a 47% profit margin, up 400 bps sequentially.
Office leasing came in well below expectations with a deeper-than-usual August slowdown extending into September. Cash rents declined 11.4% on renewed/new leases. Occupancy continues to slide with negative net absorption of -0.9%.
IBM is firing on all cylinders with 7% revenue growth — highest in years — driven by z17 mainframe strength, accelerating AI book of business at $9.5B inception-to-date, and $4.5B in AI-powered productivity savings. All segments accelerated sequentially. Guidance raised across revenue, EBITDA, and free cash flow.
PepsiCo is under activist pressure from Elliott and responding with aggressive cost cuts, SKU rationalization (20% reduction), and plant closures. They're guiding 2-4% organic revenue growth for 2026 after essentially flat 2025 — signaling the consumer staples giant is grinding for growth. Core EPS declined ~0.5% in 2025.
This filing is a class action settlement agreement, not an earnings transcript. Visa agreed to reduce credit card interchange fees by at least 4 basis points for 3 years and cap rates for 5 years. Merchants gain surcharging and steering rights.
Competitor Mentions Across This Theme
| Competitor | Mentions | By | Sentiment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mastercard | 278 | 1 company | NEUTRAL |
| AssuredPartners | 8 | 1 company | BULLISH |
| OpenAI | 6 | 2 companies | NEUTRAL |
| Red Hat | 5 | 1 company | BULLISH |
| American Express | 5 | 1 company | NEUTRAL |
| Woodruff Sawyer | 4 | 1 company | NEUTRAL |
| Anthropic | 4 | 2 companies | BULLISH |
| DEWALT | 4 | 1 company | BULLISH |
“Superseding and Amended Class Settlement Agreement of the Rule 23(b)(2) Class Plaintiffs and the Defendants”
— on Mastercard
Operator Implications
If you're building on AWS or selling into enterprises using AWS, capacity is expanding fast — 3.8 GW added in 12 months. Amazon is subsidizing AI adoption across its ecosystem. Ride that wave, but don't bet against their ad business eating into your margins if you sell on their marketplace.
Apple's installed base hit all-time highs across every product and geo segment. If you're building on Apple platforms, your addressable market is expanding. But watch the tariff math — $1.1B in projected Q4 costs means Apple may eventually pass costs to consumers or squeeze supplier margins. The AI investment acceleration is real: CapEx is growing substantially with AI as the primary driver.
If you sell into enterprise IT, budgets are expanding not contracting. Microsoft is seeing accelerating cloud migration demand alongside AI — your customers are spending more, not reallocating. But capacity constraints mean if you depend on Azure GPU access, expect queues through at least June.
If you're building anything in the value-retail or membership economy space, this is validation that consumers are consolidating spend toward trusted, high-value platforms. Membership fee growth post-increase means pricing power is real when the value prop is clear.
If you're building in healthcare or selling into hospital systems, JNJ's accelerating MedTech spend — especially in electrophysiology, AI-powered surgical tools like VIRTUGUIDE, and cardiovascular devices — signals strong institutional budgets and appetite for innovation in surgical workflows.
If you're selling into pharma or hospital systems, KEYTRUDA subcutaneous approval (one-minute administration) is about to reshape infusion center economics — watch for procurement cycle changes in oncology clinics.
If you sell into airline or corporate travel budgets, the spend is there but margins are razor-thin — expect procurement to squeeze harder on vendor pricing even as travel volumes hold steady.
If you're building on edge compute or automotive platforms, Qualcomm's investment in automated driving and data center expansion signals a deepening ecosystem — expect more integration points and developer tools in the next 12 months.
If you're building anything that requires large-scale power — data centers, manufacturing, industrial compute — AEP's service territory is mobilizing at unprecedented scale. Their 190 GW pipeline of load requests signals where physical infrastructure bottlenecks will emerge and where power availability becomes a competitive moat.
If you're building hardware products dependent on analog or embedded chips, TI's capacity buildout signals improving supply availability over the next 12-18 months — but their pricing power will remain strong as demand recovers.
If you're building in travel or marketplace services, Airbnb's expansion into services and experiences signals they're becoming a local commerce platform—not just lodging. The $200M annual investment in this vertical means they'll subsidize supply acquisition, compressing margins for standalone experience startups.
If you're selling into construction, remodeling, or trades channels, volume is contracting despite price holds. Budget holders are buying less at higher prices — classic demand destruction signal. Plan for unit volume declines through H1 2026.
If you're selling into insurance brokerages or risk management buyers, budgets are expanding — AJG alone added 10,900 employees in one quarter via acquisition. This is a sector consolidating fast; partner early or get squeezed out.
If you're building in the device protection, home warranty, or embedded insurance space, Assurant's expanding reach through OEM and carrier partnerships is raising the competitive bar. Their new financial services program signals they're moving beyond protection into adjacent verticals — expect them in more RFPs.
If you're selling into the residential real estate value chain — proptech, home services, mortgage tech — budget for a sustained volume downturn. NVR's cancellation spike and backlog erosion signal that buyer hesitation is deepening, not stabilizing. Plan your pipeline around 15-20% fewer housing starts in their markets.
If you're selling into water or municipal infrastructure, budget cycles are expanding not contracting — Xylem's organic growth acceleration and raised guidance signal that utilities and industrial buyers are spending through macro uncertainty.
If you're selling into retail or supply chain digitization, the RFID/intelligent labels wave is real and accelerating — Avery's Solutions Group growth confirms enterprise buyers are actively spending here even as broader materials demand softens.
If you're building anything adjacent to theatrical distribution or experiential entertainment, the recovery is real but fragile — it's entirely dependent on studio release cadence, not structural demand growth.
If you're selling into retail or consumer discretionary, the bifurcation is the signal: value-oriented brands (Hollister) are thriving while premium positioning (Abercrombie) is softening. Tariff costs are being absorbed, not passed through — watch for margin pressure to intensify in Q4.
If you're selling into commercial construction or building security, buyer budgets are healthy and pricing power is holding. This is a green light to push enterprise deals — procurement isn't squeezing vendors in this category right now.
If you're building in proptech or adjacent to real estate marketplaces, CoStar is flooding the zone with capital and AI-powered search. Their Homes.com network at 115M monthly uniques makes them a platform you either integrate with or get steamrolled by.
If you're leasing office space in LA's Westside or Valley, you have leverage — landlords are offering significant concessions with cash rents down double digits. Lock in favorable terms now before the market stabilizes.
If you sell into enterprise IT, IBM's clients are spending — especially on AI transformation and infrastructure modernization. The z17 cycle and AI consulting demand signal real budget allocation, not just pilots. Position your product as part of the AI deployment stack, not a net-new budget line.
If you sell into CPG or food retail supply chains, PepsiCo is consolidating hard — 3 plant closures, 20% SKU cuts, and go-to-market restructuring mean vendor relationships are being re-evaluated. Get ahead of procurement changes now or risk being rationalized out.
If you process credit card payments, this settlement structurally lowers your interchange costs starting 2026 — renegotiate your payment processing agreements before new rates take effect.