If you follow tech earnings, tonight will offer one wild ride as Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Intel and GoPro are all slated to report, not to mention the many others that are also on the schedule. The first three names on that list are three of the four biggest U.S.-based tech companies, with the fourth being Apple, which is set to report next week. Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft have a combined market capitalization of more than $1.5 trillion.
Needless to say, if you’re a tech investor, today is the day you’ll need to stay focused, so let’s all take a deep breath now.
Amazon earnings preview
Wall Street is expecting Amazon to post non-GAAP earnings of $2.35 per share, up from $2.20 per share in the year-ago quarter, and GAAP earnings of $1.08 per share, up from $1.07 per share a year ago. Analysts are looking for $35.3 billion in revenue, versus the $29.1 billion in sales Amazon recorded in the same quarter a year ago.
Most analysts have been gushing over the online retailer of late and have been boosting their price targets en masse, although Raymond James downgraded it earlier this week, citing a need to see better margins. Goldman Sachs analysts are predicting that Amazon’s revenue will tick higher faster than what the consensus is currently calling for based on the latest period of heightened investment activity.
Shares of Amazon rose by as much as 1.25% to $920.66 during regular trading hours.
Alphabet earnings preview
With the first quarter, Alphabet is changing the way it reports earnings to follow the trend of focusing on GAAP numbers rather than non-GAAP. Due to this, there may be some confusion about what to expect and about just how the results compare to expectations. In the fourth quarter, we already got a taste of this, as the Google parent changed its stock-based compensation plan.
As far as consensus numbers go (for what they’re worth here), Alphabet is expected to post GAAP earnings of $7.38 per share, versus $7.50 per share in last year’s first quarter. The company is expected to post adjusted earnings of $9.41 per share. The Google parent is expected to post $19.8 billion in revenue, excluding traffic acquisition costs, versus $16.5 billion in last year’s first quarter.
Most analysts are expecting a roughly in-line quarter and very little impact from some advertisers’ boycott of YouTube ads due to controversy over their adds appearing with potentially offensive content. Most of the impact from that issue is expected to come in the second quarter because the problems hit toward the end of the first quarter.
Alphabet shares were roughly flat at $889.05 during regular trading hours.
Microsoft earnings preview
Microsoft’s earnings report will be the first that covers an entire quarter of LinkedIn being part of it. Wall Street is looking for earnings of 70 cents per share on $23.7 billion in revenue, compared to the year-ago numbers of 62 cents per share and $22.1 billion.
Morgan Stanley analysts had high conviction going into the company’s third quarter report and said earlier this month that they feel the report could be the tipping pointed needed to get it moving back in an upward trajectory. The phone hardware business is mostly out of consensus numbers now, and PC shipments have been improving steadily. They expect Microsoft’s Commercial Cloud business to surpass a run rate of $15 billion in annualized revenue, reaching more than 75% of its $20 billion target for fiscal 2018. They’re expecting the company to post $3.83 billion in Commercial Cloud revenue, Productivity and Business Processes revenue of $7.79 billion, and Intelligent Cloud revenue of $6.57 billion.
Microsoft shares edged lower by as much as 0.29% to $67.63 ahead of the bell tonight.
Intel earnings preview
Intel is expected to report non-GAAP earnings of 65 cents per share on $14.8 billion in revenue, compared to the year-ago quarter’s 54 cents per share and $14.8 billion in revenue. The chip maker itself guided for non-GAAP earnings of 60 cents to 70 cents per share, GAAP earnings of 51 cents to 61 cents per share and between $14.3 billion and $15.3 billion in revenue.
The chip maker will likely provide an update on the acquisition of Mobileye, which is expected to push it ahead in the coveted area of autonomous driving.
Shares of Intel rose by as much as 0.42% to $37.08 during regular trading hours.
GoPro earnings preview
GoPro is expected to post GAAP losses of 44 cents per share, which would be an improvement from the 63 cents per share it lost in the same quarter a year ago. The action camera maker is projected to post $208 million in sales, also an improvement from last year when it unloaded $184 million worth of product.
GoPro told investors last month that sales in the first quarter would be toward the high end of its guidance range, which was $190 million to $210 million. The company also said that it expected a pick-up in sell-in in the second quarter due to seasonality, improved supply of its Karma drone, and timing of shipments. GoPro has been expecting sales growth in the double-digit percentages for the full year and a return to profitability this year.
Shares of GoPro ticked lower by as much as 0.22% to $9.12 during regular trading hours.
