Can Magnificent 7 Help Script Market Turnaround? Earnings Pick Up Pace With Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet And Tesla Expected This Week

As the market runs into rough weather, the importance of the upcoming week’s earnings cannot be emphasized enough. A lot is riding on the earnings reports of companies like Tesla, Inc. TSLA, Meta Platforms, Inc. META, Microsoft Corp. MSFT and Alphabet, Inc. GOOGL (GOOG).

The Season So Far: The percentage of S&P 500 companies that have reported positive earning surprises and the magnitude of earnings surprises are at or above their 10-year averages, said FactSet in its report released Friday. That said, substantial downward revisions to earnings per share (EPS) estimates of two healthcare companies have led to a decline in earnings growth over the past two weeks.

The combined earnings per share growth rate of S&P 500 companies, considering both the already reported actual results and the estimates for those yet to report, is at 0.5%, according to FactSet. The metric, however, fell from the 0.9% estimated previous week and the 3.4% estimated at the end of the first quarter. Earnings growth for the quarter may extend the positive growth streak to three quarters.

So far, 14% of the S&P 500 companies have reported March quarter results.

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Look Ahead: The upcoming week will likely feature earnings releases from 158 S&P 500 companies, including 11 Dow 30 components. With the bank earnings tapering off, the spotlight shifts to tech companies, as they begin to roll out their quarterly scorecard this week.

Apart from some big techs, which are part of the group called the “Magnificent Seven,” homebuilders, defense contractors, airlines and transportation companies are also due to release their quarterly reports.

All eyes are focused on Tesla as analysts expect a downbeat report from the company. Analysts see the scope of a further contraction in margin and potentially a double miss yet again in the first quarter.

AI stalwarts Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta are widely expected to report strong results. Following the recent tech-led sell-off, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said, “We believe 1Q earnings will be a major positive catalyst for the tech sector and expect tech stocks to be up another 15% for the year adding to the strong start to 2024.”

The earnings schedule of key names are as follows:

Monday

• Before the bell: Albertsons Companies, Inc. ACI, Verizon Communications Inc. VZ, Zions Bancorporation, National Association ZION
• After the close: Ameriprise Financial, Inc. AMP, Nucor Corporation NUE Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. CLF, Packaging Corporation of America PKG and SAP SE SAP,
  Quest Diagnostics Incorporated DGX

Tuesday

• Before the bell: D.R. Horton, Inc. DHI, Fiserv, Inc. FI, General Electric Co. GE, General Motors Corp. GM, JetBlue Airways Corporation JBLU, Kimberly-Clark Corporation KMB, Novartis AG NVS, PepsiCo. PEP, PulteGroup, Inc. PHM, Spotify Technology S.A. SPOT, United Parcel Service, Inc. UPS and Xerox Holdings Corporation XRX, Halliburton Company HAL and Lockheed Martin Corporation LMT
• After the close: Visa, Inc. V, Texas Instruments, Inc. TXN, Tesla, Steel Dynamics, Inc. STLD, Seagate Technology Holdings plc STX, Mattel, Inc. MAT, Chubb Limited CB, Canadian National Railway Company CNI and Baker Hughes Company BKR

Wednesday

• Before the bell: Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. TMO, Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. ODFL, Norfolk Southern Corporation NSC, Humana Inc. HUM, Hasbro, Inc. HAS, General Dynamics Corporation GD, Boston Scientific Corporation BSX, Biogen, Inc. BIIB and AT&T Corp. T
• After the close: Whirlpool Corporation WHR, Western Union Company WU, ServiceNow, Inc. NOW, QuantumScape Corporation QS, O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. ORLY, Meta Platforms, Meritage Homes Corporation MTH, Lam Research Corp. LRCX, Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. KNX, International Business Machines Corp. IBM, Ford Motor Co. F and Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. CMG

Thursday

• Before the bell: Altria Group, Inc. MO, American Airlines Group Inc. AAL, AstraZeneca Plc. AZN, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. BMY, Caterpillar, Inc. CAT, CMS Energy Corporation CMS, Comcast Corporation CMCSA, Dow Inc. DOW, Harley-Davidson, Inc. HOG, Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. HTZ, Honeywell International Inc. HON, Merck & Co., Inc. MRK, Mobileye Global Inc. MBLY, Nasdaq, Inc. NDAQ, Newmont Corporation NEM, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. RCL, Sanofi SNY, Southwest Airlines Co. LUV and STMicroelectronics N.V. STM
• After the close: Alphabet, Boyd Gaming Corporation BYD, Capital One Financial Corporation COF, Gilead Sciences, Inc. GILD, Intel Corp. INTC, Juniper Networks, Inc. JNPR, KLA Corp. KLAC, Microsoft, Roku, Inc. ROKU, Teladoc Health, Inc. TDOC, T-Mobile US, Inc. TMUS and Western Digital Corporation WDC

Friday

• Before the bell: AbbVie Inc. ABBV, Aon plc AON, Autoliv, Inc. ALV, AutoNation, Inc. AN, Barnes Group Inc. B, Charter Communications, Inc. CHTR, Colgate-Palmolive Company CL, Chevron Corporation CVX, Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM and Newell Brands Inc. NWL

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY, an exchange-traded fund that tracks the performance of the broader S&P 500 Index, ended Friday’s session down 0.87% at $495.16, according to Benzinga Pro data. The ETF has pulled back from its all-time high (intraday) of $524.61 hit on March 28. The Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ, an ETF levered more to high-profile, non-financial tech companies, has lost 7.72% from its all-time intraday high of $449.34 (March 21).

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