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),

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:

Adjusted earnings: $6.20 per share, versus $3.44 estimated

Revenue: $3.03 billion, versus $2.67 billion estimated

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.

Yahoo Finance's Daniel Howley reports:

Apple (AAPL) reported its first quarter earnings on Thursday, beating Wall Street's expectations on the top and bottom lines, on strong iPhone sales.

Apple's iPhone revenue topped out at an all-time record of $85.3 billion in the quarter, well ahead of the $78.3 billion analysts were anticipating. The company recorded iPhone sales of $69.1 billion in the same quarter last year.

Apple stock was up a little more than 1% on the news.

Overall, Apple reported earnings per share (EPS) of $2.84 on revenue of $143.8 billion. The Street was anticipating EPS of $2.68 on revenue of $138.4 billion, according to Bloomberg analyst consensus estimates.

Apple's Services business, its second-largest behind the iPhone, brought in $30 billion, in line with expectations. Analysts were calling for $30 billion. Mac and iPad revenue were $8.4 billion and $8.6 billion, respectively, while Wearables revenue hit $11.5 billion.

Read more here.

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 (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:

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. 

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