Tesla, Netflix, Intel Take Center Stage In Pivotal Q4 Earnings Week As S&P 500 Eyes Breaking New Highs

The earnings season is gaining momentum as the tech reporting season kicks off this week. With the S&P 500 Index reaching a new high on Friday, investors are keenly watching earnings reports to sustain the market’s upward momentum.

Mixed Q4 Earnings So Far

About 10% of the S&P 500 companies have reported their financial results so far, according to data provided by Factset. 

Regional banks like Comerica, Inc. CMA, Fifth Third Bancorp. FITB, and Regions Financial Corp. RF reported sharp earnings declines due to higher interest rates and increased FDIC fees.

Larger peers such as Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. GS posted strong results, while Morgan Stanley MS saw earnings decline despite beating revenue expectations. Financial services company Discover Financial Services DFS faced a decline on an earnings miss.

According to Factset, the fourth-quarter earnings season has had a weak start, with the percentage of S&P 500 companies reporting positive earnings surprises below average, primarily due to the subpar performance of financial sector companies. The current forecast for the blended Q4 earnings decline is 1.7%, steeper than the 0.3% drop reported last week.

On the revenue front, 62% of S&P 500 companies have reported revenue upside, slightly below the five-year and ten-year averages.

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Looking Ahead

This week will see 75 S&P 500 companies, including 10 Dow components, reporting results. The S&P 500 Index closed at a record 4,839.81 on Friday, reflecting a strong performance amid ongoing economic uncertainties.

Key Earnings This Week:

• Monday:
  • Aftermarket: United Airlines Holdings, Inc. UAL, Agilysys, Inc. AGYS, Zions Bancorporation, National Association ZION.
• Tuesday:
  • Premarket: Dow components 3M Company MMM, The Procter & Gamble Company PG, Verizon Communications Inc. VZ, homebuilder D.R. Horton, Inc. DHI, General Electric Co. GE, pharma giant Johnson & Johnson JNJ, defense contractors Lockheed Martin Corp. LMT and RTX Corporation RTX and Halliburton Company HAL.
  • Aftermarket: Netflix, Inc. NFLX, Steel Dynamics, Inc. STLD, oilfield services company Baker Hughes Company BKR, medical instruments company Intuitive Surgical, Inc. ISRG, railroad operator Canadian National Railway Company CNI and Texas Instruments, Inc. TXN.
• Wednesday:
  • Premarket: Medical devices company Abbott Laboratories ABT, semiconductor-equipment maker ASML Holding N.V. ASML, AT&T, Inc. T, Copper miner Freeport-McMoRan Inc. FCX, defense contractor General Dynamics Corporation GD and Kimberly-Clark Corporation KMB
  • Aftermarket: Railroad operator Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited CP, Ameriprise Financial, Inc. AMP, International Business Machines Corp. IBM, a Dow component, railroad operator CSX Corp. CSX, trucking company Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. KNX, semi-equipment maker Lam Research Corp. LRCX, casino operator Las Vegas Sand Corp. LVS, Seagate Technology Holdings plc STX and electric-vehicle giant Tesla, Inc. TSLA.
• Thursday:
  • Premarket: Airlines Alaska Air Group, Inc. ALK, American Airlines Group Inc. AAL and Southwest Airlines Co. LUV, health insurer Humana, Inc. HUM, Comcast Corporation CMCSA, Nokia Oyj NOK, chipmaker STMicroelectronics N.V. STM, railroad operator Union Pacific Corporation UNP, Xerox Holdings Corp. XRX, chemicals giant and Dow component Dow, Inc. DOW, defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. NOC and Mobileye Global Inc. MBLY
  • Aftermarket: Capital One Financial Corp. COF, Intel Corp. INTC, chip-equipment maker KLA Corp. KLAC, T-Mobile US, Inc. TMUS, payment processor Visa, Inc. V, a Dow component, and Western Digital Corp. WDC
• Friday:
  • Premarket: American Express Company AXP, Colgate-Palmolive Company CL, Norfolk Southern Corporation NSC.

Among the slew of earnings, scorecards from Netflix, Intel, and Tesla could move the needle on the markets. The streaming giant’s earnings could set expectations for other ad-dependent communication services companies reporting in the coming weeks. KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Justin Patterson recently said he expects above-consensus top- and bottom-line results from Netflix, premised on stronger ad-supported MAU trends.

Tesla’s earnings could be a market mover, given the weighting it has in the Nasdaq and S&P 500 indices. Expectations for the EV giant are muted, given the lukewarm demand trends for EVs and concerns regarding core auto gross margins due to its continuing price cuts.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY, an exchange-traded fund tracking the S&P 500 Index, ended Friday’s session up 1.25% at $482.43, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Read Next: Ahead Of Tesla’s Q4 Earnings, Analyst Positive Despite Muted Outlook For Margin, New Product Ramp-up

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