Big Tech earnings kick off next week with Google (GOOG, GOOGL) and Intel (INTC) set to report results on July 22 and 23, respectively. And investors will have their eyes on AI spending and returns, as well as chip sales.
Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta (META), in particular, have been punished for their heavy investments in AI data center capacity, though Google and Amazon (AMZN) have dodged the same fate, as of late. Wall Street will want to hear more about how Microsoft is expanding its Copilot service and AI growth via its Azure platform. Meta watchers will be looking into how the company is using AI to improve ad sales and user engagement.
Google and Amazon will need to deliver more of the same to keep Wall Street on their sides, while also ensuring they can keep their spending in check.
Keep an eye on the hyperscalers' remaining performance obligations (RPOs), a measure of contracts they've signed but haven't realized revenue from yet, to get a sense of where growth is headed.
On the chip side, it'll be all about sales and forward guidance. Nvidia (NVDA), Intel, AMD (AMD), and memory makers will need to show demand is keeping pace or accelerating. But even that might not be enough to satisfy investors who have recently sold the news on results from the likes of Nvidia.
Apple's (AAPL) results will be interesting for a handful of reasons. While iPhone sales are always the most important number in the company's earnings, commentary on who is buying and why will be just as noteworthy.
Analysts will be watching to see whether customers are buying now to get ahead of potential future price hikes or holding out to get their hands on the company's rumored foldable iPhone, set to launch this fall.
Post-earnings discourse will also center around the impact of rising memory and storage costs on Apple's margins and future device pricing.
Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on X at @DanielHowley.
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