Week Ahead: Big Tech Earnings on Tap

For Morningstar, I'm Jeremy Glaser. Welcome to The Week Ahead, our quick take on what investors should have on their radar screens for the week starting Oct. 19.

Earnings seasons in now in full swing with results expected from dozens of high-profile firms.

We'll get the first quarterly report from Alphabet since the firm reorganized and changed its name from Google. Despite the new name, expectations are that they will continue to show that they are at the top of the Internet ad-value food chain, as our analyst Rick Summer puts it.

We'll be looking for signs of stabilization in IBM's core business when it reports this week, as well as signs that it can continue to grow key areas like analytics and cloud computing.

Microsoft, like IBM, is in the midst of a transition, and that has been showing in its recent results. This quarter investors will be looking to see if growth in cloud computing and solid commercial results can help offset weak phone sales.

Amazon traditionally is known for turning in losses as it invests heavily in its future, but it surprised the market by turning a profit in the second quarter. On Thursday we'll see if this trend toward higher profitability continues.

Investors will be eyeing sales trends at Chipotle this week, after last-quarter's growth numbers disappointed partially due to the lack of availability of carnitas at many stores. 

McDonald's new CEO Steve Easterbrook has been trying to turn around the struggling fast food giant with initiatives like all-day breakfast. It's still early, but we will get a hint of whether things are beginning to turn around.

Coca-Cola has been facing stiff currency headwinds, so investors will need to look through that to assess the underlying volume and pricing trends that will be reported this week.

Auto sales in the U.S. have been strong in recent months, and GM's results will likely reflect this. It will be interesting to see the impact of the firm's continued shift away from fleet sales and how their China business is performing.

American Express has been facing many challenges recently including the pending dissolution of its relationship with Costco. Although we won't see the financial impact of that yet, we will get another chance to hear from management on how it is positioning the firm to compete.

On the data front, housing will be in focus. We're expecting data on housing starts, building permits, and existing home sale.

Stay tuned to Morningstar for our take on all of these stories throughout the week.