The latest US earnings season has been a mixed bag for the once dominant ‘Magnificent Seven’ stocks of Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Nvidia, Tesla and Microsoft. While some have flourished, others have underwhelmed.
With just Nvidia left to report, below Trustnet rounds up the latest set of results.
Alphabet
One of the earliest to report, Alphabet (the parent company of Google) produced solid numbers with second-quarter revenue of $96.4bn and earnings per share of $2.31 above expectations.
However, Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said there were “bad vibes” as the company is “being forced to adapt or risk becoming a dinosaur in the new AI [artificial intelligence] age”.
“The Alphabet AI investment case is something of an enigma. On paper, it has all the right tools to lead in AI – cutting-edge models and massive distribution. Yet the market seems to have prematurely written Alphabet off as a loser in the AI race, a view that feels both short-sighted and overly pessimistic,” Britzman said.
“That said, until there's more confidence that AI integration won’t cannibalise core search revenue, and some clarity around ongoing legal battles, there’s enough uncertainty to cap near-term upside.”
Amazon
Amazon dropped 6.6% after its second-quarter results last week in which weak operating income guidance was the main headline, despite the online retailer beating earnings expectations. Operating income guidance of between $15.5bn and $20.5bn was on the lower end of expectations, with analysts predicting $19.4bn.
Garry White, chief investment commentator at wealth manager Charles Stanley, was more optimistic despite the negative news. He said the results showed “strong sales and profit growth, shrugging off fears that [US president] Donald Trump’s trade policies could hit earnings at the retail behemoth”.
But he added that sales growth in the Amazon Web Services cloud business was “not as spectacular as peers Microsoft and Alphabet”, although the tech giant remains the “clear market leader”.
Neil Wilson, UK investor strategist at Saxo Bank, summed up the results as “good, but not good enough”.
Apple
Apple beat third-quarter revenue expectations ($94.04bn actual vs $89.3bn estimated) thanks to iPhone and Mac sales. iPad & Wearables revenues were slightly below forecasts.
China sales were slightly better than expected and Apple shares gained 2.4% immediately after the results.
Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, said: “Overall earnings were better than expected, meaning Apple has now beaten forecasts in nine out of the past 10 quarters.
“Importantly, iPhone sales have started to improve in China following a period in the doldrums amid fierce competition from local players. Showing it can fight back in China could have been the catalyst for a share price rally, but investors were unable to shake off uncertainty around tariffs.”
It has been a tough period for the firm, with Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, noting: “Apple, once the undisputed king of global equity markets, is languishing almost 20% below its early 2025 high, a $700bn drop in market cap.”
The stock, which had been bid up into the earnings, initially dipped but later rallied to end almost 2% higher by the close after the results.
Meta
Perhaps the biggest winner of the Magnificent Seven was Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta. Coatsworth said both Meta and software firm Microsoft “delivered the kind of earnings most companies can only dream of”.
Meta’s earnings surged 36% to $18.3bn, some $3bn ahead of analysts’ predictions, dispelling doubts about its increased AI spending. The lower end of its 2025 capital expenditure forecast is now between $66bn and $72bn, up from its April outlook of $64bn to $72bn
“Meta is the life of the party as its latest quarterly earnings exceeded expectations by 22%, which is an astounding feat. It’s rare to see that scale of earnings beat,” Coatsworth said, hailing it as “the king of the reporting season” after 10 consecutive quarters of earnings beats.
Shares jumped 11.5% in pre-market trading, adding $173.6bn to its valuation, which implied the company was worth $1.7trn.
Microsoft
Microsoft, meanwhile, reported 17% revenue growth to $76.4bn and 22% growth in net income to $27.2bn, both ahead of forecasts.
Gerrit Smit, lead portfolio manager of the Stonehage Fleming Global Best Ideas Equity fund, said it has “proven it is the preferred technology stock to own to sustainably participate in the high growth of the global fourth industrial revolution”.
“It is in the process of becoming more of a cloud infrastructure business and a leader in enterprise AI, doing so very profitably and cash generatively, despite the heavy AI capital expenditures,” he added.
Shares were up 4% the day after the results, with Coatsworth noting the company passed the $4trn mark, making it only the second company in history to do so behind chipmaker Nvidia.
“Together, Microsoft and Meta are now worth $5.81trn which is roughly twice as much as the entire FTSE 100 index. That’s quite something,” he said.
Tesla
Another of the early reporters, car manufacturer Tesla disappointed investors, with chief executive Elon Musk suggesting the firm could be in for a “rough few quarters” as the firm transitions from electric cars to robotics and AI.
Wilson noted shares in the company fell more than 4% after-hours following the disappointing quarterly earnings update, which showed automotive revenues were down 16% while adjusted earnings fell 23%.
Earnings per share of $0.40 missed expectations ($0.42) slightly, although gross margin held up “a touch better than expected” at 17.2%
“We knew the automotive business was going to be tough, but Musk’s comments did not really do enough for the market,” Wilson said.
Nvidia
The chipmaker is the last to report of the Magnificent Seven, with earnings expected on 27 August. According to Zacks Investment Research, based on 15 analysts' forecasts, the consensus earnings per share forecast for the quarter is $0.94. up from $0.65 in the same three-month period last year.
However, in recent weeks the firm became the first company in history to cross the $4trn mark.
AJ Bell head of financial analysis Danni Hewson said: “The stellar rise of Nvidia shares shows the AI trade is still alive and well, for now. This is pretty heady stuff for a company that started the year looking down the barrel of the disruptive entry of DeepSeek, which threatened to undermine demand for its high-end microchips. Those fears now look to have been put firmly to bed.”
Innes added that it was a “moment dripping with symbolism” with the company now “wearing the crown” in the US market. He described the rise from $1trn in mid-2023 to $4trn in July 2025 as “parabolic, turbocharged by an AI boom that makes the dot-com era look quaint”.