The fourth quarter earnings season kicked 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),

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:

Caterpillar said its operating profit fell 9% in the quarter to $2.66 ​billion, driven mainly by $1.03 billion of unfavorable manufacturing ‌costs, largely tied to higher tariffs.

The company, seen as a ​bellwether for the global industrial ​economy, has also raised prices on its industrial equipment, supporting margins and countering a ‍softness from a ⁠recovering construction equipment business.

Read more here.

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:

Promotional campaigns by ‌high-speed fiber providers and the launch of cheaper fixed-wireless access internet services have deepened competition ‌in the U.S. broadband market - long dominated by the likes of Comcast and Charter Communications.

Comcast on Thursday said it lost 181,000 broadband customers in the quarter, compared with an estimate of 173,780-user decline, according to data compiled ⁠by Factset.

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO) on Thursday beat Wall Street estimates for ​fourth-quarter profit and revenue on strong demand ‌for its tools and services used in drug development ‌by pharmaceutical clients.

Life sciences firms are benefiting from improving conditions in the pharmaceutical market and reduced policy uncertainty, helping them offset continued ⁠weakness in academic ‌research funding.

Rival Danaher on Wednesday also posted better‑than‑expected fourth‑quarter results.

The company posted ‍quarterly revenue of $12.22 billion, topping estimates of $11.95 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Revenue for the analytical ​instrument segment rose more than 1% ‌year-over-year to $2.22 billion, compared with analysts' estimates of $2.19 billion, while sales in its laboratory products and biopharma services climbed nearly 8% to $6.38 billion.

Read more here.

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:

The German group reported fourth-quarter revenue ‍that met market estimates, though its cloud backlog and 2026 cloud revenue forecast ​missed expectations.

\\"SAP needed an all-round ‌acceleration to fight the trough sector sentiment, and with puts and takes in the update we see shares underperforming,\\" said Citi analyst ⁠Balajee Tirupati.

Read more here.

“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.”

Mark Zuckerberg on $META's Q4 earnings call: \\"We are now seeing a major AI acceleration.\\"

Adding: \\"Our vision is building personal superintelligence.\\" pic.twitter.com/YmUmk6bNEF

— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) January 28, 2026

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.

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.

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.

BIG $0.20 EPS beat for IBM.

CFO to me on the economy/AI backdrop:

“I think this market, albeit still dynamic, the client demand and overall market, is resilient. And most importantly, it's resilient in categories that matter to us the most, around Gen AI, around hybrid…

— Brian Sozzi (@BrianSozzi) January 28, 2026

Yahoo Finance's Pras Subramanian reports:

Tesla (TSLA) reported fourth quarter earnings that topped estimates after the bell on Wednesday. The company also said its Optimus robots were on track for an end-of-year start of production.

For the quarter, Tesla reported revenue of $24.90 vs. $25.11 billion estimated, a 2.4% drop from a year ago. Tesla posted adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.50 vs $0.45 expected, with operating income of $1.41 billion vs. $1.32 billion estimated.

Tesla reported Q4 gross margin came in better than expected at 20.1% vs. 17.1% estimated.

Tesla stock was up over 3% in after-hours trade.

Read more here.

Yahoo Finance's Daniel Howley reports:

Microsoft (MSFT) reported its second quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday, beating Wall Street estimates on the top and bottom lines.

The company's stock fell more than 7% on the news.

Microsoft is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI explosion, thanks to its early investments in ChatGPT developer OpenAI, sending its market capitalization above the $4 trillion mark in July. But it's come down from those highs as investors continue to raise concerns about the AI industry's massive spending.

In Q2, earnings per share (EPS) of $5.16 on revenue of $81.27 billion topped the $3.92 and $80.3 billion Wall Street was anticipating.

Microsoft Cloud revenue came in at $51.5 billion, just ahead of an expected $51.2 billion. The company reported Cloud revenue of $40.9 billion in the same period last year.

Microsoft’s Productivity and Business Processes, which includes revenue from Microsoft 365 Commercial and Consumer Cloud, hit $34.1 billion. Wall Street was expecting $33.6 billion.

Read more here.

Yahoo Finance's Daniel Howley reports:

Meta (META) announced its fourth quarter earnings on Wednesday, topping analysts' expectations on the top and bottom lines.

The company also provided its 2026 capital expenditures guidance, saying it anticipates spending between $115 billion and $135 billion in 2026, up from the $72.22 billion the company spent in 2025.

Meta stock rose following the news.

In Q4, Meta reported earnings per share (EPS) of $8.88 on revenue of $59.9 billion, ahead of the $8.16 and $58.4 billion analysts were expecting based on Bloomberg analyst consensus estimates.

Meta’s Reality Labs division brought in $955 million versus an anticipated $959 million. But the company also booked losses related to the segment of $6 billion. Analysts were expecting an operating loss of $5.9 billion.

Meta isn’t alone in pouring billions into AI data centers. Advertising and AI rivals Amazon (AMZN), Google (GOOG, GOOGL), and Microsoft (MSFT) are also dumping enormous sums into their own data centers.

Read more here.

Whirlpool (WHR) posted fourth quarter results that missed expectations as it navigated a volatile macro backdrop with tariffs, a higher promotional environment, and cautious consumers.

The appliance maker, behind other brands like Maytag and KitchenAid, reported revenue of $4.1 billion, less than estimates of $4.3 billion. Adjusted earnings came lower than expected at $1.91, while the Street forecasted $2.18, per Bloomberg consensus data.

Whirlpool chairman and CEO Marc Bitzer characterized 2025 as one filled with a \\"lot of challenges and headwinds\\" on a call with Yahoo Finance. He said the fourth quarter was an even tougher landscape.

\\"It was a pretty heavy [promotional] environment in Q4, which is probably the result of ... still a lot of pre-tariff loaded inventory market,\\" Bitzer said, adding that new products and transition costs also weighed on the quarter.

Revenue for major appliances in its North America business fell 0.9% year-over-year to $2.57 billion. Whirlpool's small domestic appliance business grew 10.3% to $423 million, less than the $466 million Wall Street expected.

So far in 2026, Bitzer said the company is seeing a \\"normalized environment.\\"

Whirlpool expects net sales to come in the range of $15.3 billion to $15.6 billion. Wall Street expected $15.5 billion. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at roughly $6.25 for the year, a bit lower than the $7.23 projection the Street had. Free cash flow is far higher than expected, though, in the range of $400 million to $500 million, compared to expectations for $349 million.

Brinker International (EAT) stock rose 5% ahead of the opening bell on Wednesday after the Chili's restaurant owner reported earnings and a financial outlook that topped analysts' expectations.

Investing.com reports:

The Chili’s owner reported second-quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $2.87, beating analyst expectations of $2.57. Revenue during the period rose to $1.45 billion from $1.36 billion a year earlier and came in above the $1.41 billion consensus estimate.

Comparable restaurant sales increased 7.5% in the quarter, driven by an 8.6% rise at Chili’s, while Maggiano’s posted a 2.4% decline.

\\"Chili’s delivered another strong quarter with industry-leading growth of +9%, rolling the industry-leading growth from last year for a 2-year comp sales growth of +43%,\\" said Kevin Hochman, President and CEO of Brinker International.

Read more here.

GE Vernova (GEV) reported a solid quarter and guidance raise, but the stock slid around 2% in premarket trading.

The company, which spun off from GE in 2024, makes gas turbines and other equipment for electricity generation that has boomed as a result of the artificial intelligence build-out.

GE Vernova's adjusted EBITDA of $1.15 billion, below analyst estimates of $1.2 billion, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, may be letting investors down.

Revenue of $10.9 billion beat estimates of $10.2 billion. And GE Vernova reported total backlog growth of $31.2 billion for the year.

For 2026, GE Vernova raised its revenue guidance to a range of $44 billion to $45 billion, up from $41 billion to $42 billion. The company also expects increased cash flow of $5 billion to $5.5 billion, up from $4.5 billion to $5 billion.

The company sees 16%-18% organic revenue growth in its power segment for the year.

\\"We delivered strong financial performance in 2025 with continued momentum in Power and Electrification while focusing on what we can control in Wind,\\" GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik said. \\"We increased our backlog to $150 billion, with better equipment margins, and are entering 2026 with significant momentum.\\"

Yahoo Finance's Brooke DiPalma reports:

Starbucks (SBUX) posted its first quarter of North America and US same-store sales growth in two years on Wednesday as the company continues its turnaround efforts under CEO Brian Niccol.

In its fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 28, Starbucks reported US and North America same-store sales rose 4%, topping estimates for a 2% rise. The increase was driven by a 3% increase in comparable transactions and a 1% increase in the average ticket.

Starbucks last reported positive same-store sales for its US and North America unit in the first quarter of its fiscal 2024. Starbucks stock rose more than 7% following the results.

Overall, Starbucks reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.56, missing forecasts for earnings per share of $0.59. Revenue came in ahead of estimates, tallying $9.9 billion against expectations for $9.65 billion, according to Bloomberg data.

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

Corning (GLW) on Wednesday forecast first-quarter sales above estimates, boosted by resilient ​demand for its fiber‑optic products, which generate ‌nearly 40% of the company's revenue.Corning on Wednesday forecast first-quarter sales above estimates, boosted by resilient ​demand for its fiber‑optic products, which generate ‌nearly 40% of the company's revenue.

The Gorilla Glass maker, ‌a key supplier to Apple, has stepped up investment in its optical communications business as major technology companies race to expand data‑center infrastructure to ⁠support rising AI ‌workloads.

On Tuesday, Corning inked an up to $6 billion multi‑year deal with Meta ‍Platforms to supply fiber‑optic cables for the social media giant's AI‑focused data centers.

Read more here. 

Reuters reports:

Life sciences firm Danaher Corp (DHR) forecast annual profit largely in line with Wall Street estimates ​on Wednesday and beat fourth-quarter profit and revenue ‌expectations, as improving conditions in the pharmaceutical market and reduced policy uncertainties ‌offset weakness in academic research funding.

Danaher is benefiting as uncertainties around drug pricing regulations, such as tariffs and most-favored-nation concerns, are being resolved, along with a recovery in venture ⁠capital funding in the ‌biotech industry and stabilization in China's diagnostics market.

CEO Rainer Blair said the company \\"delivered a strong ‍finish to the year with better-than-expected performance across our portfolio\\", citing continued strength in bioprocessing and improved momentum in diagnostics and life ​sciences.

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

AT&T (T) forecast annual profit above market expectations on Wednesday, on bets that its wireless and fiber network ​expansion would allow the U.S. carrier to tap growing 5G ‌and high-speed internet demand.

AT&T's stock rose 4% during premarket hours on Wednesday.

The bullish forecast hinges on AT&T's infrastructure push, anchored by two ‌major deals — a nearly $6 billion purchase of Lumen's consumer fiber business and a $23 billion acquisition of EchoStar's spectrum licenses.

Read more here.

Elevance Health (ELV) stock fell 5% before the bell on Wednesday following a 2026 forecast for profit falling below Wall Street estimates.

​The health insurer said it expects higher medical costs ‌to persist into the year.

Reuters reports:

Health insurers have been battling persistently ‌high costs after a churn in enrollment in Medicaid, the U.S. government plans for low-income people, hit the industry. As states redetermined eligibility, many healthier ⁠members fell off ‌the rolls, leaving behind those who require medical services.

Demand for healthcare has remained ‍high over the last two years in areas such as behavioral health services, specialty drugs, leading to higher medical ​costs for insurers.

Read more here.

ASML (ASML) stock jumped 6% during premarket hours on Wednesday after reporting fourth quarter orders that beat analysts' expectations. ASML said the development of its AI infrastructure had helped boost demand for its chip-making machines.

Bloomberg News reports:

Bookings in the fourth quarter were a record €13.2 billion ($15.8 billion), driven by demand for its most sophisticated equipment, the Veldhoven, Netherlands-based company said in a statement on Wednesday. That compares with an average analyst estimate of €6.85 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

ASML is the only producer of cutting-edge lithography machines that are needed to make advanced semiconductors, and counts all the leading chip manufacturers as customers, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. and Intel Corp. Its machinery is integral to producing the Nvidia Corp. AI accelerators that are the backbone for training and running AI models in data centers. The Dutch company’s bookings are one signal of chipmakers’ confidence in future AI demand.

Read more here.

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