Stock Market Futures Recover From Previous Day’s Losses
U.S. stock futures are on the rise in early morning trading at the mid-week point now. This comes as investors are likely buying into the previous session’s weakness following growing inflation and economic growth concerns. Nevertheless, we are dead center in another exciting week of earnings and investors are watching closely. In fact, just yesterday, Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) posted stellar figures in its latest quarterly earnings update, citing strong consumer spending trends. The fast-casual restaurant chain operator is currently looking at earnings of $5.70 per share on revenue of $2.02 billion. This tops Wall Street’s forecasts across the board.
Even with all this, it is important to note that markets remain under pressure. This is especially evident from the year-to-date declines seen across all three key indexes. As stocks continue to face uphill battles investors could be keen to jump on now. Commenting on this in further detail is Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) Private Wealth Management’s managing director, Kathy Entwistle. She warns, “There are some names deeply discounted but I do think there’s a little bit more to go on the discounts. So I would be cautious about entering the markets at this point.”
Overall, between the flurry of earnings data, analyst inputs, and broader economic conditions, investors have plenty to consider in the stock market today. As of 5:42 a.m. ET, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures are trading higher by 1.06%, 0.89%, and 0.90% respectively.
Microsoft Gains After Solid Earnings And Upbeat Outlook; Sees Strong Momentum In Cloud Sales
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is among the largest names making a splash on the earnings scene now. Following its latest quarterly update, MSFT stock now seems to be gaining traction. To begin with, the tech giant saw an earnings per share of $2.22 on revenue of $49.36 billion for the quarter. For reference, this is versus consensus estimates of $2.19 and $49.05 billion respectively. Year-over-year, Microsoft’s quarterly revenue is now up by a commendable 18%. According to CFO Amy Hood, Microsoft is expecting revenue between $52.4 billion to $53.2 billion for the current quarter. This would be in line with current forecasts of $52.95 billion.
All in all, Microsoft has immense momentum across its core cloud offerings to thank for the performance. This is mainly apparent from Microsoft’s Intelligence Cloud division. The likes of which house its Azure, SQL Server, Windows Server, and enterprise solutions. Notably, the entire section is looking at a total revenue of $19.05 billion for the quarter, a 26% year-over-year jump. In detail, Microsoft saw revenue from its Azure and cloud services surge by 46% year-over-year. Seeing as the company’s Azure deals worth at least $100 million have more than doubled, all this is not that surprising.
Commenting on all this is CEO Satya Nadella. He begins by saying, “Going forward, digital technology will be the key input that powers the world’s economic output.” Nadella continues, “Across the tech stack, we are expanding our opportunity and taking share as we help customers differentiate, build resilience, and do more with less.” With all this in mind, I could see MSFT stock continue to gain today.
Alphabet Losses Steam After Missing Top And Bottom Line Earnings Estimates; Reveals $70 Billion Share Repurchase Program
At the same time, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) appears to be feeling the heat after its first-quarter earnings release. Unlike Microsoft, the search engine goliath posted somewhat lackluster results. Diving in, Alphabet is seeing earnings of $24.62 per share, below Wall Street estimates of $25.91. Furthermore, the company’s total revenue for the quarter is currently at $68.01 billion, also shy of consensus forecasts of $68.11 billion.
For the most part, a key factor for all this could be a miss on its YouTube segment. Namely, the company’s YouTube reported advertising revenue for the quarter of $6.87 billion, but analysts were expecting $7.51 billion. If anything, this deceleration in YouTube revenue would be worrying for some investors. Naturally, this could be the case as TikTok continues to gain ground in terms of social media video market share. However, CEO Sundar Pichai did note that YouTube’s answer to TikTok, YouTube Shorts, is steadily gaining momentum. Pichai highlights that Shorts now has 30 billion daily views, quadrupling year-over-year.
Also, Alphabet’s Google Cloud business is making positive strides forward as well. According to the company, cloud earnings for the quarter are up by 44% year-over-year. This comes as more large enterprise clients transition their workloads from physical data centers. All this alongside Alphabet’s authorization of a $70 billion share repurchase plan could put GOOGL stock in the spotlight today.
Qualcomm Earnings Preview: What To Look Out For
On the earnings front today, investors will likely be looking ahead to Qualcomm’s (NASDAQ: QCOM) second fiscal quarter report. After today’s closing bell, the semiconductor firm is set to host its latest earnings call. As it stands, Wall Street’s consensus estimates point towards earnings of $2.92 per share. Should this be the case, it would add up to year-over-year gains of about 53%. For revenue, analysts are expecting sales of $10.6 billion, a sizable 33.5% year-over-year jump. Among the core reasons for this would be a persisting bump in demand for 5G-powered chips.
For some perspective, Qualcomm’s latest guidance for the quarter suggests a revenue range of between $10.2 billion and $11.0 billion. On the earnings per share front, the company is expecting between $2.80 and $3.00. According to Qualcomm, this could be the result of its attempts to expand beyond smartphone chips. Additionally, the company also argues that its stronger supply management efforts can help mitigate supply headwinds as well. Regardless, all eyes will likely be on QCOM stock in the stock market now.
More Hot Earnings To Consider In The Stock Market Today
Not forgetting, there are numerous other heavy-hitters set to report their earnings today as well. In the pre-market, we have Boeing (NYSE: BA), Spotify (NYSE: SPOT), T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS), Oshkosh (NYSE: OSK), American Tower (NYSE: AMT), and Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG).
Alternatively, post-market names include Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: FB), PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL), Ford (NYSE: F), Pinterest (NYSE: PINS), Teladoc (NYSE: TDOC), and ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW). Safe to say, there is no shortage of notable stock market news to keep investors on their feet today.
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