The fourth quarter earnings season kicked into high gear this week, with results pouring in from Microsoft (MSFT), Meta (META), Tesla (TSLA), and Apple (AAPL). In the week ahead, investors will hear from more Big Tech names, including Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), AMD (AMD), and Qualcomm (QCOM).
An optimistic consensus is forming: As of Jan. 30, 33% of S&P 500 (^GSPC) companies have reported fourth quarter results, according to FactSet data, and Wall Street analysts estimate an 11.9% increase in earnings per share for the fourth quarter. If that rate holds, it would represent the 10th consecutive quarter of annual earnings growth for the index and the fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth.
Heading into the reporting period, analysts were expecting an 8.3% jump in earnings per share, down from the third quarter’s 13.6% earnings growth rate. Wall Street has raised its earnings expectations in recent months, especially for tech companies, which have driven earnings growth in recent quarters.
Big Tech results set the tone, as capital expenditures continue apace. Plus, the themes that drove the markets in 2025 — artificial intelligence, the Trump administration’s tariff and economic policies, and a K-shaped consumer economy — continue to provide plenty for investors to parse.
In addition to the reports from four of the “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks, Wall Street received updates from a wide swath of companies across the economy, including wireless carriers AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ), oil majors Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX), and insurance giant UnitedHealth (UNH).
The upcoming week promises more updates from companies, including Disney (DIS), Chipotle (CMG), PepsiCo (PEP), Palantir (PLTR), Uber (UBER), and Snap (SNAP).
LIVE93 updates
American Express CEO says a credit card rate cap wouldn’t be good for the economy
Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi reports:
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Fintech lender SoFi profit jumps on strong growth in fee‑based businesses
SoFi Technologies (SOFI) stock popped more than 5% on Friday after strong loan demand lifted the fintech lender’s fourth quarter profits.
Reuters reports:
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Verizon forecasts upbeat annual profit as wireless subscriber growth hits six-year high
From Reuters:
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Exxon stock falls after earnings beat
ExxonMobil (XOM) also reported an earnings beat on Friday as the oil giants contend with an oversupply of oil, driving crude prices down. The stock fell 1.7% in premarket trading
Adjusted earnings per share for the fourth quarter were $1.71, ahead of analyst expectations of $1.68. Revenue of $82.31 billion was also higher than the expected $81.43 billion
Exxon said it reached its highest full-year net production in more than 40 years at 4.7 million oil-equivalent barrels per day.
“ExxonMobil is a fundamentally stronger company than it was just a few years ago, and our 2025 results demonstrate that,” CEO Darren Woods said. “Our transformation is delivering a more resilient, lower-cost, technology-led business with structurally stronger earnings power, grounded in advantaged assets, disciplined capital allocation, and execution excellence.”
In 2026, Exxon plans to spend $27 billion to $29 billion in capital expenditures. It spent $29 billion in 2025 on capex.
Chevron (CVX) reported better-than-expected earnings on Friday as it focuses on cutting costs and faces lower oil prices.
Reuters reports:
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Deckers shares soar 15% as Ugg and Hoka drive record Q3 earnings
Deckers (DECK) stock soared 13% after the company raised its full-year financial outlook. Strong gains for Hoka sneakers and Ugg boots drove robust results in the company’s fiscal third quarter.
For the full year, Deckers expects revenue between $5.40 billion and $5.42 billion, above the consensus estimate of $5.36 billion.
From Investing.com:
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Sandisk stock surges after beating earnings estimates by wide margin, highlighting strong memory chip demand for AI
Sandisk (SNDK) stock surged 12% in extended hours following its earnings release, adding to its massive 127% rally year to date. The memory chip maker was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 in 2025.
The company crushed expectations in its fiscal second quarter, as AI companies have had an insatiable demand for memory and storage hardware. Sandisk said that revenue for its data center business segment jumped 64% over the previous quarter, driven by strong adoption among AI infrastructure builders, semi-custom customers, and technology companies deploying AI at scale.
Here’s what Sandisk reported for its fiscal second quarter, compared to estimates compiled by Bloomberg:
Sandisk also raised its revenue guidance for the third quarter to a range of $4.4 billion to $4.8 billion. The Street was expecting revenue of $2.6 billion.
“This quarter’s performance underscores our agility in capitalizing on better product mix, accelerating enterprise SSD deployments, and strengthening market demand dynamics, all at a time when the critical role that our products play in powering AI and the world’s technology is being recognized,” said Sandisk CEO David Goeckeler.
Apple tops Q1 earnings estimates on record-breaking iPhone sales
Yahoo Finance’s Daniel Howley reports:
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Visa earnings beat expectations as consumer spending proves ‘resilient’
Visa (V) reported better-than-expected earnings in its fiscal first quarter due to strong payments volume during the holiday season. However, the stock dropped in after-hours trading.
CEO Ryan McInerney said profit growth benefited from a “resilient consumer spending and a strong holiday season.”
Revenue for the quarter ending Dec. 31 rose 15% year over year to $10.9 billion, topping analysts’ estimates of $10.6 billion, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Adjusted earnings per share of $3.17 also came in above estimates for profits of $3.14 per share.
Total transactions increased 9% year over year to 69.4 billion during the fiscal first quarter.
Visa’s results come after rival Mastercard (MA) also reported strong spending and an earnings beat.
“The macroeconomic environment remains supportive with balanced job markets across the globe, underpinning healthy consumer and business spending,” Mastercard CFO Sachin Mehra said on the company’s earnings call, adding, “That said, there continues to be ongoing geopolitical and economic uncertainty.”
Royal Caribbean stock surges on ‘incredible year,’ upbeat outlook
Royal Caribbean (RCL) stock surged 16% as upbeat financial guidance buoyed investors.
The cruise line said it expects double-digit revenue and adjusted earnings per share growth in 2026 on the back of 6.7% capacity growth. For the first quarter, Royal Caribbean projected earnings per share in the range of $3.18 to $3.28, well above the Street’s estimate of $2.95 per share.
Booking trends are holding up, Royal Caribbean said. With approximately two-thirds of 2026 capacity booked, the company said it’s seeing strong demand for vacations in Europe and the Caribbean.
In the fourth quarter, profits grew by 33% year over year, and adjusted net income of $2.80 per share was in line with Wall Street estimates, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Revenue of $4.25 billion was slightly below estimates of $4.27 billion
“The fourth quarter capped an incredible year for us, as strong demand for our vacation experiences, coupled with strong execution by our teams, resulted in happy guests and robust financial results,” CFO Naftali Holtz said on the earnings call.
Caterpillar (CAT) reported higher profits as demand for its power generation equipment surged amid the build-out of data centers.
The construction and mining equipment maker reported an adjusted profit of $5.16 per share for the quarter, up from $5.14 per share a year earlier. Revenue rose to $19.1 billion from $16.2 billion. Those figures were above Wall Street’s expectations of $4.71 earnings per share and revenue of $17.7 billion.
But Caterpillar, which faced a tariff hit of between $1.6 billion and $1.75 billion in 2025, expects an even bigger headwind from tariffs in 2026, warning of a $2.6 billion hit from tariffs in 2026.
Reuters reports:
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Comcast sheds more broadband customers as wireless competition mounts
Media group Comcast (CMCSA) reported a loss in broadband customers in its fourth quarter earnings on Thursday, the decline missed analysts’ estimates and was driven by a rise in competitors offering consumers more cost-effective and aggressive offers.
The stock edged higher by 0.3% before the bell on Thursday.
Reuters reports:
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Thermo Fisher beats quarterly estimates on demand for tools from pharma clients
Reuters reports:
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SAP shares slump after cloud backlog, guidance disappoint
SAP (SAP) stock fell 15% before the bell on Thursday after reporting a cloud backlog and posting disappointing guidance.
The German firm said that its cloud pre-orders hit $25 billion, but they missed analysts’ estimates by just 1%. The delay has been blamed on a few “mega deals” that are taking longer to get running; this has caused a sell-off in the stock.
Reuters reports:
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Mark Zuckerberg on Meta’s earnings call: ‘We are now seeing a major AI acceleration’
“We are now seeing a major AI acceleration,” Mark Zuckerberg stated on Meta’s (META) earnings call.
That theme was consistent throughout Meta’s earnings call, as the CEO touted new AI models and products that the company is working on.
Zuckerberg said that since the beginning of 2025, Meta has seen a 30% increase in productivity from its engineers due to the adoption of AI coding tools. The power users of those tools have seen their output increase by 80%, Zuckerberg said.
“We’re starting to see agents really work,” he added. “This will unlock the ability to build completely new products and transform how we work.”
Tesla suggests cities where robotaxis may be tested next
As Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian noted, Tesla (TSLA) said in its earnings report that it removed the safety driver on a limited basis for its Austin robotaxi service.
As for which metro areas may be next for robotaxi testing, Tesla suggested it would target Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas in the first half of 2026.
Robotaxi target cities. (Tesla presentation)
ServiceNow stock declines after company announces expanded partnership with Anthropic
ServiceNow (NOW) followed up its partnership with OpenAI, inked last week, with an expanded agreement with Anthropic on Wednesday.
The cloud software company said it will deploy Anthropic’s Claude model to more than 29,000 employees with the ServiceNow AI Platform. The stock declined by 5% after the agreement and company earnings were released.
“This partnership is about reimagining how work gets done,” said Bill McDermott, CEO of ServiceNow. “It puts the power to build, deploy, and scale mission-critical applications into the hands of every person, in every industry, at every level. Together, we are proving that deeply integrated platforms with an open ecosystem are how the future is built.”
In the fourth quarter, ServiceNow reported adjusted profit of $0.92 per share, above estimates of $0.88. Revenue rose more than 20% year over year to $3.57, also beating estimates of $3.53 billion.
For 2026, ServiceNow expects subscription revenue to be between $15.53 billion and $15.57 billion. Wall Street forecast full-year subscription revenue of $15.21 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Read more about ServiceNow earnings here.
IBM stock surges as software revenue growth accelerates
International Business Machines (IBM) stock surged 8% in extended trading after growth in the company’s software business drove 12% revenue growth for the fourth quarter.
Revenue increased to $19.69 billion, beating forecasts of $19.21 billion, according to Bloomberg consensus estimates. Software revenue was up 14% in the quarter, Consulting revenue increased 3%, while Infrastructure revenue rose 21%.
IBM has focused on its Hybrid Cloud and Red Hat software platforms, which have been primary drivers of the stock’s 30% gain over the past year.
Earnings per share came in at $4.52, compared to estimates of $4.32.
Read more from Reuters.
Tesla stock climbs on Q4 earnings beat, Optimus robots on track for end-of-year production
Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian reports:
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Microsoft Q2 earnings beat, cloud revenue tops $50 billion
Yahoo Finance’s Daniel Howley reports:
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