After the hors d'oeuvres of Snap and Netflix, US tech really gets down to business next week with the big guns of the FANNG club being wheeled out.
Silicon Valley grandfathers Microsoft and Apple are among the stock blue-chips in the coming days, after enduring volatility along with the rest of the sector in recent months.
Whilst neither are on the bleeding edge of tech anymore, broker Wedbush reckons the stalwarts will be the sector's “most important prints next week”.
For Apple, the broker says: “As of now we believe iPhone demand is holding up slightly better than expected (despite the various supply issues that have plagued Apple and the rest of the tech sector).
“That said, the Street is well aware of weakness this quarter and we believe ultimately is looking past June numbers to the September and December quarters with all eyes on the iPhone 14 production/demand cycle for the Fall staying on track.
“Apple is continuing to focus on a robust product pipeline and services ramp into 2023 including what we believe will be the highly anticipated AR/VR headset release.”
Analyst consensus sees Apple reporting around US$82.6bn of revenue for the June quarter.
Over at Microsoft, meanwhile, Wedbush believes trading has been comparatively robust with its performance hanging on demand for cloud services measured by a conservative outlook.
“Despite Street fears, our checks in the quarter have held relatively firm for MSFT on the cloud and commercial bookings front which remains the key to the stock's performance in our opinion moving forward,” Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said in a note.
“With Microsoft slowing hiring across the board along with other tech stalwarts, we believe management is keenly aware of a very rocky macro that could impact demand around the edges in 2023 and is making the prudent proactive expense moves which we loudly applaud.”
Analyst consensus expects US$52.47bn of revenue for the quarter.
Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:FB), better known as the owner of Facebook, has also started the process of lowering expectations.
Hiring plans have been by at least 30% this year, with chief executive Mark Zuckerberg warning workers to prepare for a deep economic downturn.
The social media behemoth, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, expects a leaner second half of the year as it contends with macroeconomic pressures and data privacy threats to its advertising business.
"If I had to bet, I'd say that this might be one of the worst downturns that we've seen in recent history," Zuckerberg told employees.
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) (Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN)) is due to report its results for the second quarter of 2022 on Thursday (28 July), just as digital advertising revenues are tumbling on online platforms.
Its results will follow those of social media platform Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) (Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP)), which reported that platform policy changes have "upended more than a decade of advertising industry standards".
Amazon is under pressure following a probe into workplace conditions in its warehouses in New York, Chicago and Orlando, which will add to any squeeze on margins coming from elsewhere.
Finally, Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), the parent company of Google, will release its second-quarter results on Tuesday 26 July as the US tech earnings season kicks into full force.
Like Meta, it too has paused hiring with chief executive Sundar Pichai telling staff they have "be more entrepreneurial" and work with "greater urgency, sharper focus, and more hunger than we've shown on sunnier days".
Google has been among the most resilient of the techs during the latest bout of volatility and if it comes through next week unscathed it might spark a revival for them all.