The fourth quarter earnings season kicks into high gear this week, with Big Tech results from Microsoft (MSFT), Meta (META), Tesla (TSLA), and Apple (AAPL) headlining the earnings calendar.

An optimistic consensus is forming: As of Jan. 23, 13% of S&P 500 (^GSPC) companies have reported fourth quarter results, according to FactSet data, and Wall Street analysts estimate an 8.2% 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.

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.

Although Big Tech continues to set the tone, this earnings season promises to test the improved stock market breadth that has emerged at the start of 2026. 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 — will continue to provide plenty for investors to parse.

In addition to the reports from four of the "Magnificent Seven" tech stocks, Wall Street will receive updates from a wide swath of companies across the economy, including UnitedHealth (UNH), Boeing (BA), General Motors (GM), IBM (IBM), Starbucks (SBUX), Levi Strauss (LEVI), Visa (V), American Express (AXP), Mastercard (MA), Caterpillar (CAT), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX), AT&T (T), and Verizon (VZ),

Capital One (COF) stock slid in extended trading hours after the financial company announced it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire fintech company Brex Inc. for $5.15 billion in 50% cash and 50% stock.

Brex provides business credit cards, spending accounts, and expense management software. The acquisition is Capital One's latest expansion into fintech after it bought Discover for $35 billion last year.

News of the deal came as Capital One reported fourth quarter earnings that beat expectations. The Virginia-based company reported earnings per share of $3.26 per share, beating estimates of $3.23, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Total net revenue increased 1% year over year to $15.6 billion, also coming in above estimates for $15.4 billion in revenue.

“Our fourth quarter and full year results reflect solid top line growth and strong and stable credit performance\\" CEO Richard D. Fairbank said in a statement. \\"Years of strategic preparation and our choices to consistently invest to sustain long-term growth and returns enable our results and put us in a strong position going forward. I’m struck by the number and quality of the opportunities we have before us.”

Listen to the earnings call live here at 5 p.m. ET.

Houston-based oil field services company Baker Hughes (BKR) reported fourth quarter earnings on Sunday that beat analyst expectations as the company's focus on liquefied natural gas and industrial energy infrastructure paid off.

Baker Hughes reported earnings per share of $0.88, which was better than the $0.67 per share Wall Street was expecting, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Revenue of $7.3 billion also came in higher than the Street estimate of $7 billion.

The stock rose more than 2% in premarket trading.

The Industrial & Energy Technology segment saw continued strength and secured a record backlog of $32.4 billion, the company said.

\\"Looking ahead, we expect IET orders to remain at robust levels, supported by continued momentum in LNG, a stronger year of FPSO [floating production storage and offloading] and gas infrastructure awards, and sustained strength for power systems,\\" Baker Hughes CEO Lorenzo Simonelli said in the earnings release. \\"Against this favorable backdrop, we project similar levels of organic IET orders in 2026.\\"

Listen to the company's earnings call at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Next week, four of the \\"Magnificent Seven\\" stocks report results: Microsoft (MSFT), Meta (META), Tesla (TSLA), and Apple (AAPL).

There are a couple of reasons why markets will be closely watching these reports. For one, anything related to artificial intelligence continues to drive the markets. And for another, the Magnificent Seven names have been the top contributors to S&P 500 earnings growth in recent quarters.

Those trends are expected to continue in the fourth quarter reporting season. According to a note by FactSet's senior earnings analyst John Butters, analysts expect Magnificent Seven companies to report earnings growth of 20.3% in aggregate for Q4. For the remaining 493 companies in the S&P 500, the aggregated earnings growth rate is expected at 4.1%.

Read more about what to expect from Big Tech earnings here.

Alaska Air Group (ALK) saw progress in its premium seat and international flight push in the latest sign of airline competition for high-income customers.

On Thursday, the airline reported adjusted earnings of $0.43, above consensus estimates of $0.11 per share, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence. Revenue of $3.6 billion was roughly in line with analyst estimates on annual capacity growth of 2.2%.

Alaska Air primarily operates routes along the US West Coast and plans to expand its international flights from two to five to eventually 12, including flights to London and Rome. The stock rose 6.6% on Friday afternoon.

Echoing results from Delta (DAL) and United (UAL), Alaska Air said it saw strong demand in its premium segment in its earnings call on Friday.

First Class and Premium Class revenues grew 7.1% year over year, compared to a 2.4% decline for Main Cabin revenues. However, even Main Cabin sales saw some improvement from the third quarter, the company said.

\\"We've really seen the improvement in the demand profile across every segment of the business, ... certainly, premium and loyalty are the biggest drivers of that,\\" CFO Shane Tackett said on the earnings call. \\"But I think we actually like the trends we're seeing in Main Cabin right now.\\"

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (BAH) said its contract pipeline was accelerating again after a year of government cost-cutting efforts from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) pressured the defense consultancy's business.

\\"Our national security business continues to see good growth and very good prospects, but I think what's really exciting to us is our civil business is starting to reignite,\\" CEO Horacio Rozanski said on the earnings call, adding, \\"The market does feel like it's at an inflection point.\\"

The company's sales backlog rose 2% year over year to $38 billion in the third quarter.

Overall revenue in the third quarter declined 10% year over year to $2.6 billion, missing Wall Street estimates of $2.7 billion, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. But adjusted profits rose to $1.77 per share, beating analysts' estimates of $1.27.

The stock jumped by 6% in premarket trading on Friday on Booz Allen Hamilton's upbeat earnings guidance.

The company slightly lowered the top end of its full-year revenue guidance to a range of $11.3 billion-$11.4 billion from $11.3 billion-$11.5 billion previously. But it raised its adjusted diluted earnings per share guidance to $5.95-$6.15 from $5.45-$5.65 previously.

Aluminum producer Alcoa (AA) stock gained in after-hours trading following top- and bottom-line beats, as higher aluminum prices boosted results despite lower shipments.

Alcoa posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.26 for the fourth quarter, above estimates for $1.01, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Unadjusted earnings of $0.85 per share missed estimates, which the company attributed to an $337 million investment loss from its Saudi Arabian mining company Ma’aden, $144 million goodwill impairment charge, and currency fluctuations.

Revenue increased 15% year over year to $3.4 billion, above estimates of $3.27 billion. The company said its aluminum production increased 5% while alumina production decreased 4% year over year. The increase in aluminum prices, more than offset the higher tariff costs on Canadian aluminum imported to the US, the company said.

Alcoa stock rose 1.6% on Thursday afternoon and is up 18% year to date.

Yahoo Finance's Laura Bratton reports:

Intel (INTC) stock fell as much as 5% after the bell Thursday as its first quarter financial outlook fell short of Wall Street's expectations.

The chipmaker said it expects first quarter revenue of $12.2 billion, at the midpoint of its range and below the $12.6 billion projected by Wall Street analysts tracked by Bloomberg. Intel guided for earnings per share of $0 for the period, short of the estimated $0.08.

Meanwhile, Intel reported better-than-feared fourth quarter earnings and revenue as CEO Lip-Bu Tan nodded to rising AI demand for its chips called CPUs (central processing units).

Intel's earnings per share of $0.15 for the period were slightly above the previous year's $0.13 and ahead of the $0.09 projected, per Bloomberg data. The chipmaker's fourth quarter revenue of $13.7 billion marked a 4% decline from the year-ago period but was higher than the $13.4 billion expected.

“Our conviction in the essential role of CPUs in the AI era continues to grow,” Tan said in a statement. \\"Our priorities are clear: sharpen execution, reinvigorate engineering excellence, and fully capitalize on the vast opportunity AI presents across all of our businesses.”

Read more here.

Freeport McMoran (FCX) beat adjusted earnings and revenue estimates for the fourth quarter, but reported lower production of the copper, gold, and molybdenum it mines. The stock fell fractionally in midday trading on Thursday.

Freeport McMoran said it produced 640 million pounds of copper, 65,000 ounces of gold, and 25 million pounds of molybdenum in the fourth quarter, down from the 1.04 billion pounds of copper, 432,000 ounces of gold, and 22 million pounds of molybdenum it produced in the same quarter a year ago.

Copper production was severely hit after a deadly mudslide in September took out the company's Grasberg copper mine in Indonesia, the world's second-largest copper mine. On the earnings call, CEO Kathleen Quirk said the closure impacted copper volumes by 10% for the year compared to its forecasts going into 2025.

Quirk said the company is on track to resume operations at the Grasberg mine in the second quarter of 2026, and Freeport McMoRan COO of the Indonesia business Mark Johnson added that he doesn't see \\"any real hurdles at this point to be able to start up as we planned.\\"

For the fourth quarter, the company posted adjusted earnings of $0.47 on revenue of $5.6 billion. Wall Street analysts were looking for adjusted earnings of $0.32 on revenue of $5.3 billion.

A rally in copper and gold prices last year helped boost the miner's results, though that boom is widely expected to slow or even backtrack in 2026.

\\"Global inventories of copper on exchanges have risen in recent months, during a period of sharp increases in copper prices,\\" Quirk said on the earnings call. \\"Most analysts are projecting that the market will be tightly balanced during 2026 with some projecting deficits and other small surpluses.\\"

McCormick & Co. (MKC) shares dropped after the company posted mixed fiscal fourth quarter results and a softer outlook.

The food company reported adjusted earnings of $0.86 on revenue of $1.85 billion. The Street forecast adjusted earnings of $0.88, alongside revenue of $1.84 billion, according to Bloomberg consensus data.

Volume growth was softer too, up 0.2% compared to expectations of a 0.9% increase. In its total consumer segment, which includes items such as spices, herbs, recipe mixes, and condiments, sales increased by 3.9% for the quarter.

Barclays analyst Andrew Lazar said in a note to clients that \\"the continued top-line strength for the core consumer segment is still a key differentiator.\\"

For fiscal year 2026, McCormick expects adjusted earnings to be in a range of $3.05 to $3.13, less than the $3.23 Wall Street was looking for.

CEO Brendan Foley outlined what was behind the cautious outlook, saying in a call with investors: \\"The environment across our key markets is marked by volatility and continued pressure from inflation, geopolitical and trade uncertainty, and threat of rising unemployment, and overall consumer confidence remains low.\\"

\\"Consumers, especially low- to middle-income households, continue to make more frequent trips to the store while purchasing fewer units per trip, a trend that was evident at the start of the year and accelerated through the fourth quarter,\\" Foley added.

Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi spoke to Procter & Gamble CFO Andre Schulten about the company's mixed quarterly results as consumers traded down to cheaper private label options.

\\"We are seeing sales growth in our categories in the US and Europe, albeit at a slower pace,\\" Schulten told Yahoo Finance.

\\"The consumer is choosing to be a little bit more diligent in terms of using pantry inventory, maybe dosing the product a little bit more carefully, maybe making choices in terms of how frequently they use,\\" Schulten said. \\"None of this is untypical. None of this will sustain. So we firmly believe the category over time will return to three to 4% growth.\\"

The Street has braced for softer results from P&G, with the stock down about 6% in the past six months.

\\"The K-shaped economy powers trade-down in basics but trade-up within the more discretionary Beauty sub-sector,\\" said Evercore analyst Robert Ottenstein on the headwinds consumer products companies are currently experiencing.

Read more about P&G results here.

Procter & Gamble (PG) stock dipped following the consumer packaged goods company's fiscal second quarter results and softer earnings per share outlook.

The Tide laundry detergent maker reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.88 on revenue of $22.2 billion. Wall Street analysts were expecting adjusted earnings of $1.86 on revenue of $22.2 billion, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Net sales grew 1% year over year, with 5% sales growth in the beauty and health care segments, 2% growth in grooming products, 1% growth in fabric and home care, and a 3% decline in sales growth for baby, feminine, and family care.

P&G's new CEO, Shailesh Jejurikar, who began at the start of the year, stated, \\"We have confidence in our plans to deliver stronger results in the second-half of the fiscal year. We remain committed to our integrated growth strategy and are excited by the opportunity ahead to reinvent P&G and create the CPG company of the future, delivering long-term balanced top- and bottom-line growth and value creation.\\"

The company dialed down its full-year outlook for earnings per share growth to a range of 1% to 6% growth from its previous guidance of 3% to 9% as it faces charges from restructuring.

GE Aerospace (GE) reported better-than-expected earnings on Thursday as orders for commercial jet engines and defense technologies surged in the last three months of the year.

Fourth quarter revenue of $12.7 billion rose 18% year over year and beat Wall Street estimates of $11.1 billion, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Adjusted earnings per share of $1.57 also topped estimates of $1.43.

The stock wavered in premarket trading, however.

For the full year, GE expects profits in the range of $7.10-$7.40 per share and adjusted revenue growth in the low double digits, in line with estimates.

Abbott (ABT) stock fell 5% before the bell on Thursday after missing Wall Street estimates for quarterly ​revenue, hit by ‌weakness in its diagnostic and nutrition business.

Reuters reports:

Shares ‌of the Illinois-headquartered company fell nearly 4% in premarket trading after it also forecast current-quarter profit below ⁠market expectations.

Shares ‌of the Illinois-headquartered company fell nearly 4% in premarket trading after it also forecast current-quarter profit below ⁠market expectations.

Abbott ‌has already warned its diagnostics division faces a projected $700 ‍million revenue hit in 2025, driven primarily by the steep drop‑off in ​COVID‑19 testing demand and pricing ‌pressure from China's volume‑based procurement program, which buys laboratory equipment and consumables in bulk at substantial discounts.

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

Self-driving tech company Mobileye Global forecast annual revenue ​below Wall Street expectations on ‌Thursday, a sign that slower electric-vehicle production ‌is weighing on demand for its driver assistance technology.

Shares of the Israel-based company fell 6% in premarket.

U.S. ⁠President Donald ‌Trump's tariffs on the import of vehicles and auto ‍parts have jolted the global automotive industry, forcing several carmakers to abandon forecasts and ​scramble to adjust supply chains ‌to mitigate the impact.

This risk comes as North American carmakers rein in their once‑aggressive electric vehicle push, struggling to keep pace with Chinese ⁠rivals, losing access to ​some tax credits ​and shifting toward more affordable models and hybrids.

Read more here.

Yahoo Finance's Daniel Howley previews what to expect for Big Tech earnings, which are right around the corner:

The first Big Tech earnings of the new year kick off this week, with Intel (INTC) set to report its results after the bell on Thursday.

AI will undoubtedly lead the conversation. As in prior quarters, questions remain about how companies are monetizing their vast investments in the red-hot technology and whether hyperscalers like Amazon (AMZN), Google (GOOG, GOOGL), and Microsoft (MSFT) and social media giant Meta (META) will continue to increase spending.

Investors will also be interested in PC chip sales from AMD (AMD) and Intel, which could get a boost thanks to Microsoft’s decision to end support for Windows 10. But the ongoing global memory shortage could put a damper on their sales outlooks.

Apple’s earnings will also be in the spotlight, as investors anticipate solid growth on the back of strong iPhone sales in the fourth quarter.

And then there’s Nvidia (NVDA). The company’s future in China remains a major question mark as the chipmaker attempts to reestablish its business in one of the world’s most important AI markets.

Read more here.

Charles Schwab (SCHW) stock rose over 1.7% on Wednesday after the brokerage and asset manager posted 22% annual revenue growth, supported by record trading volumes, but missed the high expectations set by Wall Street.

Fourth quarter earnings per share of $1.33 fell short of analyst estimates of $1.35 per share, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Revenue of $6.33 billion also came up short of expectations for $6.39 billion.

\\"While we had anticipated some moderation in client trading activity towards the back end of the year, we instead saw an acceleration in activity, which contributed to higher volume-related costs, inclusive of performance-based compensation,\\" Charles Schwab CFO Michael Verdeschi said on the earnings call.

Net interest revenue grew 25% year over year to 3.1 billion. Asset management revenue increased 14% to $1.7 billion. And revenue from trading surged 22% to $1 billion.

Schwab brought in record client assets during the quarter, the company said, as total client accounts grew 6% year-over-year to 46.5 million.

The latest quarter from Netflix (NFLX) left Wall Street wanting more, Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi writes.

Netflix stock tanked 6% in premarket trading on Wednesday as its initial outlook for 2026 fell shy of analyst forecasts. Netflix sees 2026 sales growth of 12% to 14%, short of the \\"whisper numbers\\" of 16% that circulated ahead of the report.

The company also earmarked $275 million in costs related to the $72 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), impacting operating margin potential.

Adding to the list of concerns, Netflix said viewing hours in the second half of 2025 only increased 2% — well below the full-year growth rate of 9%. Moreover, with 325 million subscribers, Netflix trailed some analyst estimates on this key metric.

\\"We remain concerned that short-form entertainment (such as TikTok, Insta, X, YouTube shorts and Snap) is doing to streaming what streaming has done to traditional TV as consumers (especially younger ones) spend an ever-increasing time on these platforms amidst plummeting attention spans,\\" said Guggenheim analyst Jeff Wlodarczak.

He noted this shift is \\"fundamentally negative for long-form content.\\"

Read more here.

Oil services provider Halliburton (HAL) posted better-than-expected earnings and revenue for the fourth quarter, sending its shares up 2%.

The Houston-based company reported profits of $0.70 per diluted share, beating Wall Street estimates of $0.55 per share, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Profits were flat from a year ago, when the company also posted earnings of $0.70 per share.

Revenue of $5.7 billion also came in stronger than the $5.4 billion estimated. It was also higher than the $5.6 billion in revenue reported a year ago.

Halliburton's revenue in its Completion and Production segment was roughly unchanged from a year ago at $3.3 billion, while revenue in the Drilling and Evaluation unit was $2.4 billion, also flat.

While the oil majors have shown reluctance in exploring Venezuelan oil following the US's removal of Nicolás Maduro (ExxonMobil's (XOM) CEO called it \\"uninvestable\\"), oil infrastructure companies like Halliburton have shown more eagerness to revisit the country.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that the company has started looking at resumes for roles in the country, in a sign that Halliburton may be ready to reenter Venezuela.

Reuters reports:

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) on Wednesday forecast 2026 sales and profit ahead of Wall Street estimates, even when including a hit of \\"hundreds of millions of dollars\\" from ​the drug pricing deal it signed with the Trump administration earlier this month.

J&J is one of ‌16 big pharmaceutical companies that have reached agreements to lower U.S. drug prices in exchange for exemptions from Trump-imposed tariffs.

\\"We can't disclose ‌specific details, but it's hundreds of millions of dollars,\\" Chief Financial Officer Joseph Wolk said in an interview. \\"It's a credit to the team here that we were able to surpass what (analyst) expectations are for 2026 by a pretty sizable amount while digesting that impact.\\"

The company forecast 2026 operational sales of $99.5 billion to $100.5 billion, exceeding analysts' estimates ⁠of $98.9 billion, according to LSEG data.

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

TE Connectivity (TEL) projected second-quarter profit above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, as the ​electronic component maker banks on a surge in ‌demand for its AI-related tools and products.

The company forecast second-quarter adjusted profit ‌per share at about $2.65, compared with analysts' expectations of $2.63 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The growing global demand for AI-related tools and products has boosted investments in ⁠data centers and network ‌equipment, benefiting companies like TE.

First-quarter sales in the company's industrial solutions segment surged more than ‍38% year-over-year. The unit makes electrical connector systems and components for factory automation, and equipment used in data centers.

Read more here.

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