Banks, Elbit, Isracard and more: The big reports this week on the stock exchange
Hapoalim, Leumi, Discount and Beinleumi are reporting this week, alongside Elbit, Strauss, Cellcom and Isracard. What is the market looking for, and why is it important to you even if you haven't bought a single share directly?
After a week in which Tower, Nova and Nice opened the heavy part of the reporting season, this week continues the trend with bank reports. Four of the five major banks are reporting their second-quarter results. For most Israelis, these are not just stocks — banks are among the largest components of the Tel Aviv indices, and therefore they sit in almost every pension fund, provident fund and training fund.
The background this time is particularly fascinating, because two opposing forces meet in it. On one hand, the banks arrive against a backdrop of record profits: Hapoalim finished the first quarter with a profit of about 2.1 billion shekels and an adjusted return on equity of about 14%, and Leumi recorded the highest profit in the system with about 2.3 billion shekels.
On the other hand, the Bank of Israel has already lowered the interest rate three times in 2026 — it currently stands at 3.5% — and this cycle of rate cuts is beginning to erode financial margins, the central engine of bank profits. At the same time, the special profit tax approved in the Knesset in March is also weighing: for Hapoalim alone, the annual impact is estimated at about 950 million shekels.
And yet, the market estimate is that the quarter will be strong thanks to the effects of inflation on index-linked assets, sharp growth in credit portfolios and particularly low provisions for credit losses. What to look for in the reports: the rate of interest erosion, credit quality, and especially the volume of dividends and share buybacks — that is where the money that returns directly to investors is found.
Beyond the banks, the week is crowded with other heavy names.
Elbit Systems continues to be the big defense story of the stock exchange. In the first quarter, it beat forecasts by a wide margin, with earnings per share of 3.87 dollars and a backlog of orders that broke the 30 billion dollar mark for the first time, with about 71% of it outside of Israel. This backlog provides visibility for years to come, but the stock is already priced expensively, at multiples much higher than those common in the defense industry. The question is whether this pace can continue.
Strauss provides the angle closest to the consumer. In the first quarter, it presented a record operating profit of 316 million shekels, partly because the prices of raw materials like coffee and cocoa fell — but not necessarily on the supermarket shelf. That is, margins expanded while consumer prices remained high, and this is a story that directly touches all of our wallets.
Cellcom arrives in its best financial state in two decades: free cash flow at a peak and low net debt. But the real drama in the sector is the sale of Hot Mobile, which may increase aggressive price competition — a development that may benefit consumers but put pressure on companies.
Isracard is the notable fall in the table, with a decline of about 33% since the beginning of the year. Under the control of Yitzhak Tshuva's Delek Group, the company is investing heavily to transform from a card company into a full-fledged bank — with its win of the El Al FLY CARD club, but alongside a failure to close the acquisition deal of Nir Zuk's Ash Bank.
However, these moves take a toll in the short term: the cost of the FLY CARD alone is expected to subtract 110 to 150 million shekels from the profit in 2026, even if it is expected to yield a nice profit from 2027.
And in the background, the chip wave continues: Camtek, which like Nova provides testing equipment to chip manufacturers, jumped about 38% this year on the back of demand for artificial intelligence, and alongside it the defense company Next Vision, which has already raised forecasts against the backdrop of a sharp jump in revenues.
The bottom line for you: this week is a snapshot of the entire Israeli economy — from banks, through defense and consumption to finance. Even if you haven't bought a single share, through your pension, mortgage and deposit, you are a party to the matter. And as always in the reporting season, it is worth looking not only at the profit of the past quarter, but especially at the forecast and expectations going forward.
