The Week Ahead: Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple to Report Earnings

Over 20 of the top companies we cover are expected to report their earnings in the week ahead, including Alphabet GOOGL on Monday, Microsoft MSFT on Tuesday, and Amazon.com AMZN, Apple AAPL, and Facebook FB on Thursday.

On Oct. 20, the Department of Justice filed an antitrust suit against Google for monopolistic practices. We don’t think the case will be solved anytime soon, and it could make it to the U.S. Supreme Court. Aside from dominating the online search market, the wide-moat search engine also holds a leadership position in the digital ad market.

We think Microsoft’s acquisition with ZeniMax Media, owner of Bethesda Softworks, one of the largest privately held game developers and publishers in the world, is a strategic move for the software company. We also believe it suggests gaming is becoming more important internally.

Wide-moat Amazon announced its new healthcare subscription Amazon Halo, which will unlock a new service to drive subscription revenue and open the door to new third-party monetization opportunities. We believe the new service could also allow Amazon to target new medical, dental, and veterinary Amazon Business customers.

During its annual product showcase on Oct. 13, Apple released four new iPhone models with 5G capability and updated cameras. The narrow-moat technology company also has expanded battery life for its phones with the new A14 Bionic chip, claiming a 50% performance advantage over any other competing mobile chip.

The growth in users and user engagement paired with the ability to generate valuable data makes Facebook attractive to advertisers. The online social network exhibits strong top-line growth and remains cash flow positive and profitable. Facebook’s large audience size will attract ad dollars despite the scrutiny the wide-moat company faces for how it utilizes data to target users when advertising.

Here are the other companies we expect to see earnings reports from in the week ahead:

• Tuesday: Pfizer PFE, 3M MMM, Merck MRK, and Advanced Micro Devices AMD
• Wednesday: Gilead Sciences GILD, Visa V, Enterprise Products Partners EPD, Boeing BA, Ford Motor F, General Electric GE, and Mastercard MA
• Thursday: T. Rowe Price TROW, Anheuser-Busch BUD, and Starbucks SBUX
• Friday: Altria Group MO, Chevron CVX, AbbVie ABBV, and Exxon Mobil XOM