Big Tech Lines Up for Earnings Season: What Traders Should KnowPeak earnings season is right around the corner — the next two weeks are for the geeks with tech giants slated to report their quarterly financials all the while traders and investors weigh concerns over tariffs, trade wars, and export controls.
On tap to offload first-quarter earnings updates this week are Tesla NASDAQ:TSLA (Tuesday) and Google parent Alphabet NASDAQ:GOOGL (Thursday).
We’ll get more of the tech elite next week — Meta NASDAQ:META and Microsoft NASDAQ:MSFT deliver next Wednesday and Amazon NASDAQ:AMZN and Apple NASDAQ:AAPL report Thursday. Nvidia NASDAQ:NVDA reports late in May.
Let’s talk about that.
Welcome to earnings season, aka that rush hour of the quarter when traders hit refresh on the earnings calendar , their watchlists, and cortisol levels.
Once again, it's Big Tech in the spotlight — specifically the Magnificent Seven club, a pack of tech heavy hitters who spent the past year building the future of artificial intelligence only to be the first out the door this year when investors dumped risk in the face of looming global uncertainty.
Now, with Tesla and Alphabet kicking off what could be a market-moving series of updates, the real question isn’t just who beat the numbers — but who can still tell a good story in the face of tariffs, competition, and AI-fueled capex that’s starting to look like Monopoly money.
👜 The Setup: Seven Stocks, Seven Bags to Hold
The Magnificent Seven — Tesla, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet, and Nvidia — aren’t just the tech elite. They’ve been the main engine of the market for the last few years. But in 2025, the wheels have come off.
These technology mainstays, towering over the growth sector, have shed hundreds of billions and are now nursing double-digit percentage losses. Each. One. Of. Them. The growth space, valued more on prospects of bright performance rather than current showing, has been hit hard this year. How hard? That hard:
Tesla NASDAQ:TSLA is down 36%
Nvidia NASDAQ:NVDA is down 27%
Amazon NASDAQ:AMZN is down 21%
Alphabet NASDAQ:GOOGL is down 20%
Apple NASDAQ:AAPL is down 19%
Meta NASDAQ:META is down 16%
Microsoft NASDAQ:MSFT is down 12%
On the outside, we all know what’s dragging stocks — it’s the widespread tariff jitters fanning recession fears and triggering waves of capital outflows. But on the inside, these tech giants are deep into a spending spree, and paring back that guidance might be too late.
AI spending is now at fever pitch, having gone from “impressive” to “uh… should we be concerned?” And that’s what investors will be watching when these masters of technology report quarterly numbers.
Besides the usual revenue figures, earnings per share and (likely timid) guidance, capital expenditures will draw a ton of attention. Capital expenditures, or capex, is the amount of money a company allocates for investments in new stuff like hardware and software and that may include beefing up existing infrastructure.
Injecting AI into systems and operations is top focus right now and Big Tech has decided to be generous and pony up some big money for it. Here’s what this year’s capex looks like, as per prior guidance:
Microsoft has allocated $80 billion
Alphabet has set aside $75 billion
Amazon? $100 billion ready to roll
Zuck’s Meta is in with up to $65 billion
The rest of the Mag 7 haven’t put out official capex projections but no one is sleeping on the opportunity.
Let’s go around the room and see what each of these is dealing with right now.
🚗 Tesla: A Look Under the Hood
Tesla reports first, and traders are bracing for either redemption — or another reason to panic sell.
On the surface, it’s not pretty: EV demand is sagging, especially in China and Europe. Musk’s political disruption and proximity to Trump aren’t helping the optics. And with shares already down 36% this year, the company enters this earnings call with bruises and baggage.
Revenue is expected to come in at $21.2 billion, down 1%, while earnings are projected to drop 8% to $0.42. Tesla delivered 336,681 cars in Q4 , a 14% drop from the same time a year ago.
🌎 Alphabet: Quiet Strength, But Still on Watch
Alphabet is expected to deliver solid results — $89.2 billion in revenue, up 11%, and $2.01 in earnings per share, up 6.3% from last year. Among the Mag 7, it’s one of the best-positioned players to weather trade volatility, thanks to its size, diverse revenue streams, and sheer dominance in advertising and cloud computing.
Its Gemini AI model is heating up the race against ChatGPT and Copilot, and its cloud division is quietly chipping away at AWS and Azure’s lead.
That said, traders will still be watching for any signs of slowdown in digital ad spending—a canary in the coal mine if the economy starts to sputter under tariffs and tightening global conditions.
💻 Amazon and Apple: The Slow Burners
Amazon, with its big-ticket spending on AI, is playing the long game — mostly through AWS, the company’s main driver of profitability. It's aggressive, even by Big Tech standards. The problem? AWS margins are under pressure, and retail is facing the squeeze from cautious consumers.
Amazon needs to prove it can turn AI into revenue, not just headlines. Amazon’s sales and earnings per share are projected to grow 8.16% and 38.7% respectively.
Apple, meanwhile, is in the risky position of relying a bit too much on China for its products — it ships about 90% of its iPhone from Asia’s biggest economy.
And while that may be irrelevant for first-quarter results, it may weigh on the company’s outlook, considering Trump’s flip-flopping on Chinese tariffs (is tech in or is tech out?) .
The iPhone maker is expected to report $93.9 billion in revenue and $1.61 in earnings per share.
🔍 Meta and Microsoft: AI Darlings With Something to Prove
Meta reports next Wednesday, and the pressure’s on. Zuck has gone full steam into AI, pushing for everything from AI chatbots in WhatsApp to personalized content generation across Facebook and Instagram.
But here’s the kicker: Meta still makes its money from ads. And if ad budgets start shrinking in response to tariffs or a slower economy, AI investments may not save the day — at least not right away.
Meta is expected to pull in $41.3 billion in revenue and $5.24 in earnings per share.
Microsoft, on the other hand, has positioned itself as the white-collar AI whisperer. Copilot is everywhere — Office, Teams, Edge, Windows — and its $80 billion in AI infrastructure spending is squarely aimed at enterprise dominance.
It still holds a 49% stake in OpenAI, and Azure is growing, albeit slower than expected. If Microsoft can show AI adoption translating into real revenue, traders may get the breakout they’ve been waiting for.
Microsoft is expected to pick up revenue of $68.5 billion and $3.23 in earnings per share.
🤖 Nvidia: The Final Boss
Nvidia won’t report until late May, but it’s already looming over the entire earnings season. Every other tech company is spending billions on Nvidia’s chips — so when the chipmaker finally updates investors, it could swing sentiment across the entire sector.
The market wants to see that demand is real and growing, especially from hyperscalers like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. If Nvidia disappoints, the fallout might be like watching a domino go down.
Nvidia is expected to bring home $43.1 billion in revenue and $0.90 in earnings per share.
⚙️ Final Thoughts: Big Bets, Big Risks
This isn’t just another earnings season — it’s a stress test for the Magnificent Seven amid times of big market shifts. The group that once carried the market now faces a reality check: AI is expensive, global trade is messy, and Wall Street is no longer giving out free passes for “vision.”
But where there’s risk, there’s also opportunity. Traders who can sift through the noise, spot the change in tone, and ride the next narrative — whether it’s autonomous Teslas, AI-powered spreadsheets, or ad-supported Metaverse avatars — will have the edge.
What’s your take? Which Big Tech name are you watching most closely — and are you betting on a rebound or bracing for more pain? Let’s hear it from you.
