Eyes on Earnings — Week of May 4, 2025
Companies are sounding cautious about what’s next — but Wall Street and retail investors are more confident than ever — are they once again in a stupor? On Friday, the S&P 500 rallied for its ninth straight session, something it hasn’t done since Nov. 2004.
The rally has mostly undone April’s tumble, with economic data remaining strong and reports that the US and China might soon enter trade talks overweighing a slew of earnings that painted a blurry, abstract picture of the future of domestic stocks.
The week behind: As of Friday AM, 72% of the S&P 500 had reported Q1 results, with FactSet noting 76% posted earnings surprises and 62% reporting revenue surprises. But those beats might be something of a ruse, as many firms and analysts have cut expectations and continue to lower guidance given macro uncertainty. And if you were looking for upbeat forward commentary, last week didn’t deliver — even from the market’s biggest players.
- All four Mag7 stocks that reported presented positive Q1 results but gave cloudy forecasts — Microsoft’sMSFT strong showing still showed slowing cloud growth, while MetaMETA warned of softer ad demand.
- Meanwhile, China loomed over AppleAAPL and AmazonAMZN, which flagged rising tariff costs in the coming quarter.
The Week Ahead
With most of the major earnings behind us, markets will now look for strength in numbers. This will be the busiest earnings week yet, with 1,594 reports on deck. Here’s what we’re watching:
- Semis, stand up: Results from Advanced Micro DevicesAMD and Arm HoldingsARM will offer more clarity on the semiconductor space, following strong showings from Taiwan SemiconductorTSM and BroadcomAVGO.
- Pharma earnings continue: After a mixed week, we’ll be watching updates from pharma firms like VertexVRTX, BioNTechBNTX, Novo NordiskNVO, and more to see where the sector’s heading next.
- Consumers be like… With fast food firms struggling and travel companies warning on demand, reports from delivery apps like UberUBER and DoorDashDASH, theme park giant DisneyDIS, and global hotel chain MarriottMAR will serve as important indicators about the consumer.
And then there’s the rest: With over 1.5K reports this week, we can’t possibly tackle everything, but we’ll have our eye on automakers — like FordF, LucidLCID, and RivianRIVN — and tech names like PalantirPLTR, ShopifySHOP, and Arista NetworksANET. Where relevant, reports from energy utilities, private equity names, and others might offer more substance.