Five Big Tech Companies Report Earnings This Week—Here’s What to Watch

Prepare yourselves. This week we’re going to hear lots of variations on the terms “headwinds” and “challenges” and “execution.” We’ve got March-quarter earnings coming from most of tech’s big names, and the picture isn’t expected to be pretty. Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Snap report between Tuesday and Thursday. You can see details of what’s expected from each below, but here’s the headline: Analysts expect those five companies to report top-line growth averaging just 1.1% for the quarter, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Since 2018, the same group has averaged annual growth of 25%. (This week’s group doesn’t include Apple, which is reporting on May 4 and is expected to post a 4.6% drop in year-on-year revenue).

The massive slowdown in growth is, of course, why all five of the companies reporting this week have done mass layoffs in the past 12 months, slightly reversing the hiring they did when times were good. Of course, the slowdown isn’t news. It’s been evident for nearly 12 months now, a result of a digital ad market squeeze and weaker corporate spending on cloud services, both thanks to economic jitters. What investors want to know is the future. On that front, it’s notable that Wall Street analysts are somewhat optimistic (yes, we know, not a shock). The consensus is that all five will accelerate next year to growth of around 11% to 12% in both 2024 and 2025, according to S&P.