Buckle up. The busiest week of earnings season is upon us. About 160 S&P 500 firms will release their quarterly results, including Microsoft and Advanced Micro Devices. Apple can be next in line. These reports come at a time when big tech stocks are under pressure from a rotation out of successful mega-cap trading in favor of beaten-down small-cap names. Early reports from stocks in the previous cohort weren’t well received either. Tesla and Google parent Alphabet fell sharply last week on disappointing releases, dragging the broader market lower. Overall, though, the season has been solid. As of Friday’s close, about 41% of S&P 500 firms have reported earnings. Of those names, 78% have beaten earnings expectations. Check out CNBC Pro’s breakdown of what to anticipate from this week’s major reports. All times are Eastern time. On Tuesday, Advanced Micro Devices will report earnings after the market closes. A conference call with management is scheduled for five p.m. Last quarter: AMD said it’ll sell $4 billion value of artificial intelligence chips this 12 months. This quarter: Analysts surveyed by LSEG expect the chipmaker’s earnings per share to have risen 17% in comparison with the identical period last 12 months. What CNBC is watching: Investors will probably be in search of signs of progress within the chipmaker’s position within the AI race. In a note last week, Stifel analyst Ruben Roy said, “We continue to believe AMD has established itself as a strong second-largest supplier of GPU-based AI computing, and we expect further progress as the company expands its footprint in AI technology.” What history shows: AMD has a checkered record relating to earnings. The company beats expectations 62% of the time, in accordance with Bespoke Investment Group. However, on earnings-announcement days, shares fall a median of 1.5%. Microsoft will report earnings after the market closes, followed by a conference call at 5:30 p.m. Last quarter: MSFT reported accelerating cloud revenue growth due to the corporate’s AI offensive. This quarter: LSEG says analysts expect the corporate to post greater than 14% year-over-year revenue growth. What CNBC is watching: Expectations for Microsoft are high ahead of Tuesday’s report. Evercore ISI raised its price goal on the stock to $500 from $485 last week, while Jefferies named the tech giant a top pick. “We expect solid F4Q results and a repeat of double-digit revenue and earnings growth for FY25. While that may not be enough to boost shares (by any significant amount) in the near term, we believe our estimates still have room to move higher in FY25,” Evercore ISI said. What history shows: Custom data shows Microsoft beats earnings estimates 81% of the time. Shares also gain 0.4% on earnings day on average. Apple will report its results after the market closes on Thursday. A conference call with management can be scheduled for five p.m. Last quarter: AAPL announced its largest share buyback ever as iPhone sales fell. This quarter: Expectations for the tech giant are muted. Analysts are forecasting earnings growth of just 6% 12 months over 12 months, in accordance with LSEG data. What CNBC observes: Crucial for the tech giant will probably be any updates surrounding its AI efforts. “After years of slower upgrade rates … we believe Apple Intelligence could be a much-needed upgrade catalyst that significantly boosts revenue and EPS growth,” Baird analyst Will Power wrote last week. He also raised his price goal on the stock from $200 to $240. What history shows: According to Bespoke, Apple earnings beat expectations 89% of the time. However, shares have fallen after three of the last 4 days of earnings. Amazon will report earnings after the market closes. A conference call with management is scheduled for five:30 p.m. Last quarter: AMZN said its profit greater than tripled This quarter: Analysts surveyed by LSEG see Amazon’s earnings growing greater than 55% What CNBC is watching: Amazon shares have been under pressure recently, losing greater than 5% this month amid a broader sell-off in technology stocks. Could Thursday’s report turn the tide for the e-commerce and cloud giant? BMO analyst Brian Pitz thinks so. Last week, he raised his price goal on the shares from $220 to $230, noting: “We are raising our AWS Q2 2024 growth estimate by 120 basis points from 17.8% to 19% as companies go on the offensive – channel checks suggest AWS growth could reach 22%+ in Q2 2024.” What history shows: Amazon shares rose after the last 4 days of earnings, data from Bespoke shows.
