Third-quarter earnings season is in full swing, and investors have some high expectations with the S&P 500 up 21.7% year to date through Oct. 25 and 7.5% in the past three months alone.
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Earnings reports can be important market-moving catalysts. A good or bad earnings report often sets the tone for a stock for the next quarter. Fortunately, earnings season has been bullish so far. About 37% of S&P 500 companies have already reported as of Oct. 25, and those results combined with overall estimates for the quarter so far show 3.6% earnings growth and 4.9% revenue growth.
Here are seven stocks reporting earnings soon to keep an eye on, six of which report this week:
— Apple Inc. (ticker: AAPL)
— Nvidia Corp. (NVDA)
— Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)
— Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)
— Meta Platforms Inc. (META)
— Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY)
Apple Inc. (AAPL)
Apple produces the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac computers and other personal computing devices. In addition, its services segment includes its App Store, Apple Music, iCloud and licensing businesses. For Q2, the company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.35, beating analyst estimates by 3.7%. This quarter, analysts project EPS of $1.52, up from $1.36 a year ago. They are also anticipating Apple will report 13% revenue growth. Apple shares are up about 7% overall in the past three months. The median analyst price target for AAPL stock is $250, suggesting 8% upside from its Oct. 25 closing price.
Expected report date: Oct. 31, after market close
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA)
Nvidia designs and sells high-end graphics and video processing chips used for desktop and gaming computers, workstations, and other advanced computing servers and supercomputers. Not only is Nvidia one of the best-performing stocks in the entire market in the past 15 years, it was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 in 2023 and has been the second-best-performing stock in the S&P 500 in 2024. Analysts expect EPS of 74 cents and $32.9 billion in revenue, up 81.5% from a year ago. The median analyst price target for NVDA is $150, suggesting 5.9% upside from Oct. 25.
Expected report date: Nov. 20, after market close
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)
Microsoft is the world’s largest software company and is best known for Windows, Office and Azure cloud services. Analysts expect $3.10 in EPS and $64.5 billion in revenue, up around 29.9% from a year ago. Last quarter, Microsoft reported $2.95 in EPS, beating analyst estimates by less than 1%. Investors should also watch for Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud segment revenue, which came in at $28.5 billion last quarter. Revenue from Azure and other cloud services was up 29%. Microsoft has a median price target of $497, suggesting 16.1% upside from Oct. 25.
Expected report date: Oct. 30, after market close
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Alphabet is one of the world’s largest online search and advertising companies and is the parent company of Google and YouTube. Analysts expect $1.85 in EPS and $86.3 billion in revenue, up 23.4% from a year ago. Last quarter, Alphabet reported $1.89 in EPS, beating analyst estimates by 2.7%. Investors should pay attention to YouTube ad revenues, which grew to $8.66 billion last quarter but fell short of Wall Street expectations. Alphabet shares have stayed roughly even over the past three months. The median price target for GOOG stock is $205, suggesting 22.7% upside from Oct. 25.
Expected report date: Oct. 29, before market open
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)
Amazon is the market leader in e-commerce and public cloud services. Amazon shares are up about 4% in the past three months, suggesting market expectations for its third-quarter earnings report this week may be fairly low. Analysts expect Amazon to report quarterly EPS of $1.14 and revenue of $157.1 billion, up 11.2%. Last quarter, Amazon reported EPS of $1.26, beating consensus estimates by 22.3%. Amazon’s AWS cloud revenue was up 19% last quarter, while its advertising revenue was up 20%. The median price target for AMZN stock is $220, suggesting 17.1% upside from Oct. 25.
Expected report date: Oct. 31, after market close
Meta Platforms Inc. (META)
Meta Platforms is a market leader in social media and online advertising and is the parent of Facebook, Instagram and other platforms. Analysts are calling for quarterly EPS of $5.24 and revenue of $40.2 billion, up 20% from a year ago. Last quarter, the company reported $5.16 in EPS, beating consensus estimates by 9.1%. Investors will also be closely watching Meta’s daily active people (DAP) count after it reported 3.27 billion DAP across all its platforms last quarter. Meta has a median price target of $600, suggesting 4.6% upside from Oct. 25.
Expected report date: Oct. 30, after market close
Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY)
Eli Lilly produces brand-name prescription drugs to treat a wide range of medical conditions, including diabetes, cancer and neurological disorders. The pharmaceutical stalwart could serve as an important litmus test for the health care sector. Analysts are expecting Eli Lilly to report third-quarter EPS of $1.45 and revenue of $12.1 billion, up 27.4% from a year ago. Last quarter, Eli Lilly reported EPS of $3.92, beating analyst estimates by 50.8%. Eli Lilly shares are up about 9% in the past three months. The stock has a median analyst price target of $1,033, suggesting 15.7% upside from Oct. 25.
Expected report date: Oct. 30, before market open
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7 Earnings Reports to Watch originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 10/28/24: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
