With about a third of companies reporting profits next week, it's all about corporate America and its financial health amid the still raging pandemic.
Nearly 170 companies will report revenue for the coming week, including a diverse group of blue chips, including Boeing (NYSE :), Caterpillar (NYSE :), and Merck (NYSE :), and the group, except (NASDAQ :), which has already been reported.
Our focus will be on the following three tech giants whose revenues for the July-September period could help clarify whether their latest share gains are warranted:
1. Microsoft
One of Wall Street's techies, Microsoft (NASDAQ :), made money after the market closed on Tuesday, October 27. The computer giant is expected to post $ 1.54. share the profits on sales of $ 35.76 billion.
If the past gives any clues, Microsoft should show strong momentum, fueled by a wave of investment in technology and the power of its core Office products. Because of this advantage, stocks have remained largely immune to the global health crisis, up nearly 37% for the year. The stock closed at $ 216.23 on Friday after rising 0.62% for the day.
Microsoft is benefiting from the increased demand for connectivity as people work from home and communicate socially. In addition, investors expect companies and governments to continue to spend on their transition to cloud computing, which has been a major area of ??expansion for the company in recent years.
Sales for Azure, Microsoft's meticulous cloud computing service, were up 47% in the previous quarter from a year earlier. The company posted 59% growth in the prior period and 64% in the same quarter of the previous year.
2. Apple
Apple (NASDAQ :), the maker of popular iPhones, computers and smart wearables, will be Thursday, October 29, after the market closes fiscal year 2020.
On average, analysts expect the company to achieve $ 0.71 per share on sales of $ 63.98 billion. The latest earnings announcement came after the company released its highly anticipated new phone models this month, which is a new growth cycle according to many analysts. These iPhones run on a new wireless standard, known as, which can transmit data as much as 10 times faster than current 4G LTE technology.
Although Apple stocks rose 57% this year and rebounded strongly from the March pandemic, they have been under pressure since early September due to economic uncertainty and the US election. AAPL closed at $ 115.04 on Friday, down 15% from its September peak.
The company's vast innovation ecosystem and massive cash supply are some of the things that keep investors attracted and hopeful about the future of the Cupertino, CA-based tech mammoth. The maker of the iPhone currently has about $ 207 billion in cash on hand with about $ 108 billion in both short-term and long-term debt.
3. Amazon
Online retail juggernaut Amazon (NASDAQ 🙂 will also report after the market closes on Thursday, October 29.
The consensus is that the world's most valuable e-commerce company by market cap will again crush expectations based on its strong earnings momentum. Revenues are expected to increase 30% to $ 92.6 billion from the same period a year ago, yielding earnings per share of $ 7.29
.
This sentiment is largely reflected in the company's stock price, which rose 73% this year and benefited from the shift to online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic. On Friday the stock closed at $ 3,204.40.
Any weakness of the stock in the event of a negative surprise should provide an ideal buying opportunity. Amazon remains a great company, spending aggressively in new areas of growth, such as cloud computing. Its digital advertising business, another high-margin business, is growing by three figures.
