For investors, the headline earnings numbers will matter. However, Wall Street will likely be paying even closer attention to management commentary, guidance, and several key operating metrics that could influence stock prices for the remainder of 2026.

What Accenture’s Results Could Reveal About Corporate AI Spending

Accenture kicks things off on June 18, and its report could become one of the most closely watched tech-related earnings releases of the quarter.

The consulting giant has aggressively positioned itself as a leader in artificial intelligence services, announcing billions of dollars in AI-related bookings over the last year. Analysts expect fiscal third-quarter revenue of about $18.8 billion and earnings per share of roughly $3.72.

However, investors are increasingly asking a simple question: Are those AI bookings translating into actual revenue growth?

Wall Street will be focused on new bookings, revenue growth, operating margins, and any updates regarding AI-related demand. Investors also want to know whether AI is creating new consulting opportunities or potentially reducing demand for traditional consulting services. 

What FedEx Can Tell Us About Consumer Spending

FedEx reports earnings on June 23, and investors will view the results as an indicator of business spending. Because FedEx handles millions of shipments across the world, its results often provide clues about the broader economy. Strong package volumes can suggest healthy consumer demand and business activity, while weakness may signal slowing economic growth.

Wall Street will be watching shipment volumes, pricing trends, operating margins, and management’s outlook for fiscal 2027. Analysts are also looking for updates on the company’s ongoing cost-cutting initiatives and network optimization efforts.

Commentary regarding international shipping trends, e-commerce demand, and industrial activity could offer valuable insight into the direction of the broader economy.

Can Nike Deliver a Turnaround Update Investors Want to Hear?

Nike’s June 30 earnings report may be one of the most important in recent years for the athletic apparel giant.

The company has been working through a lengthy turnaround effort aimed at reigniting growth, rebuilding relationships with wholesale partners, and strengthening product innovation. Analysts currently expect revenue of approximately $10.85 billion and earnings per share near $0.11. While those figures matter, Wall Street is likely to focus more heavily on Nike’s forward outlook.

Investors want to see evidence that demand is improving in North America and that recent product launches are resonating with consumers. Just as importantly, they will be looking for signs of stabilization in China, where sales have faced significant pressure amid increased competition from local brands and a weaker consumer environment.

Management’s commentary regarding inventory levels, promotional activity, gross margins, and tariff-related costs will also be closely scrutinized. Many investors remain patient with Nike’s recovery plan, but confidence could weaken further if management suggests the turnaround will take longer than expected.

What Investors Should Watch

While Accenture, FedEx, and Nike operate in different sectors, together they offer a broad view of corporate technology spending, global economic activity, and consumer demand. Their earnings reports could help shape market sentiment heading into the second half of 2026.

For investors, the biggest opportunities may not come from whether these companies beat earnings estimates, but from what management teams say about the road ahead.

Fueled by surging demand for AI infrastructure, data centers, and high-bandwidth memory solutions, Micron has emerged as one of the semiconductor industry’s biggest winners. The company’s advanced DRAM and NAND memory products have become critical components in AI servers, helping drive significant revenue growth and investor enthusiasm.

As a result, Micron shares have soared as demand for memory chips continues to outstrip supply. However, with the stock approaching record highs and earnings scheduled for June 24, investors are beginning to ask an important question: Can Micron’s AI-fueled rally continue, or is the market becoming too optimistic? While analysts remain largely bullish on the company’s long-term prospects, some Wall Street firms are warning that soaring memory prices and supply shortages may not last forever.

Micron has been one of the market’s standout winners

In fact, since bottoming out at around $312 in March, the tech giant is now up to $1,072.17. All thanks to substantial demand for artificial intelligence, which has triggered massive shortages and price hikes for its high-performance memory chips. Now, as it heads into earnings on June 24 after the bell, it’s still gaining a good deal of momentum.

In addition, as noted by Barron’s, “The latest sign of the memory-supply crunch came last week when the new head of the Xbox videogame console division at Microsoft warned in a publicly released memo that the unit was facing a “hardware component crisis.” Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said memory costs have risen roughly fivefold over the past two years and the company is unable to make as many consoles as consumers want.”

Even better, most analysts are bullish. TD Cowen, for example, just raised its price target on Micron to $1,500 from $660, with a buy rating. The firm cited strong demand for dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), which continues to outpace supply by a wide margin. 

Goldman Sachs Highlights Risks Despite the Rally

Goldman Sachs did raise its price target on Micron to $900, but kept a neutral rating on the stock. The firm noted, “We believe investor positioning remains very bullish given the dramatic share price run-up and optimism around the potential impact of long-term customer agreements,” they wrote, as quoted by Barron’s. The firm expects “Micron’s earnings—currently boosted by surging demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) in artificial-intelligence hardware—to peak in fiscal 2027 at $138.86.”

In addition, DRAM prices have quadrupled over the last year. However, those costs are likely to come down as major memory chip manufacturers, such as Samsung and SK Hynix build new fabrication plants to boost production capacity. When supply again overtakes demand, stocks like Micron could easily reverse lower. 

History is also proof investors should be cautious.

Between 2022 and 2023, the memory crash led to Micron reporting a GAAP net loss of $2.31 billion in just one quarter, as noted by Trefis. “During 2018 and 2019, cloud operators over-ordered memory through 2017, then steadily reduced purchases through 2018 as inventories swelled. NAND prices fell roughly 60% and DRAM approximately 40%. Micron peaked near $64 in May 2018 and fell to around $28 by year-end,” they added.

What matters most now

With Micron set to report earnings on June 24, investors will be closely watching guidance, demand trends, and management’s outlook for AI-related memory products. The results could help determine whether the stock has further room to run—or whether expectations have become too elevated after one of the semiconductor sector’s most impressive rallies.

Nike reports earnings on June 30, and it’s doubtful the company will tell investors anything they want to hear. 

But does that merit NKE trading at 2015 levels?  

That’s a question that investors will answer. We don’t invest in an efficient market. In better days, NKE stock was worth what investors were willing to pay, which was enough for Nike to split its stock seven times since going public in 1983.  

Today, Nike is seeing the other shoe drop. The company is in the middle of a turnaround, but right now, that sounds like a company playing defense. A better strategy might be for the company to go on offense.  

I love analyzing and writing about stocks. But before that, I spent a lot of time in marketing, and I believe that Nike has a marketing problem. So, if I were to write an open letter to Nike management, here’s what I’d say: 

Please, Nike. Just Do It.  

An open letter to the swoosh — from an investor who still wants to believe 

Dear Nike, 

Let me take you back to a simpler time. 

It’s 1992. Michael Jordan is in the air — literally.  

He’s palming a basketball with one hand, his tongue out, legs spread like he owns the stratosphere.  

The logo below him doesn’t even need a name. You know exactly whose shoe it is. 

You know exactly whose company it is. And you know, without question, who runs the athletic footwear world. 

That was you, Nike. That was all you. 

I’ll be honest — I was a Reebok kid. I liked being the underdog. I liked the rebellion.  

But I respected Nike the way you respect a champion you can’t quite beat. You were Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO). Reebok was Pepsi (NASDAQ: PEP). And no matter how good the challenger tasted, the original was still the original. 

So what happened? 

You Got Lost on the Way to the Trophy Case 

Your quarterly earnings report is coming up on June 30. And to be honest, the numbers aren’t going to matter. Investors know it’s going to be a meh print. 

Free cash flow has compressed dramatically — down from $3.27 billion in fiscal 2025 to a trailing twelve-month figure around $1 billion today. Gross margins are getting eaten alive by tariffs, down 130 basis points to 40.2% last quarter. Net income fell 35% year-over-year in Q3.  

None of those is likely to be much better in the quarter just ended.  

Your stock is trading near 2015 levels, around $46, well below its 200-day moving average, which has been pointing south for a year. 

And yet, here’s what I’d argue: the market has overcorrected. At roughly 30x earnings, your stock isn’t dramatically expensive by historical standards. You don’t have a broken business. You have a distracted one. 

The Reebok lesson should have stuck. There will always be an Adidas (OTCMKTS: ADDDF), an On Running, a Hoka nipping at your heels. You can’t win by trying to be everything. The agile competitor never sleeps. The only antidote is to be so good at what you do best that the challenger never lands a clean hit. 

Somewhere along the way, you drifted. You went deep into the equipment. You expanded aggressively into apparel. The sneaker game — the thing that made Nike a religion — got complicated. You chased growth in every direction, and in doing so, you gave the competition room to breathe. 

The World Cup Is Your Open Door 

Here’s the thing about the 2026 FIFA World Cup happening right now on home soil: Adidas is the official tournament sponsor. They’re everywhere. The branding, the match balls, the pavilions. They bought the headline. 

But you outfit Team USA. 

And let me tell you something about the American sports fan. We are, almost entirely, World Cup casuals. We’ll watch Team USA play, and we won’t watch much else. There’s a reason most Americans still call it soccer.  

That’s not a knock; it’s an opportunity. Because the casual American viewer watching the U.S. national team isn’t already loyal to Adidas. They’re watching American athletes in American colors — and you dress them. 

Be the boss. Be the brand that doesn’t apologize. You have done this before. You have made counterprogramming look like leadership. 

Run the campaign. Make it loud. Make it feel like 1992 again — hungry, confident, a little dangerous. Don’t let Adidas own the summer while you quietly wait for the noise to die down. This is a moment. Take it. 

The Marketing Problem Is Real — But So Is the Fix 

The deeper issue is identity. Nike has, almost without realizing it, become a challenger brand. You’re playing defense against On Running and HOKA on performance, against New Balance and Adidas on lifestyle and retro appeal. That’s not a position you play well, and it’s not a position Nike should be in. 

The path back is not complicated, even if it requires courage. 

Bring Jordan back. 

Not the Jordan brand as a sub-label — the man himself. Go nostalgia. Tap into the cultural nostalgia economy that has made everything from vintage jerseys to 1980s movie franchises bankable again. Gen Z and Gen Alpha don’t remember the first Air Jordan era. Show them what they missed. Make them feel like they’re discovering something. You have arguably the greatest marketing asset in the history of sports sitting in North Carolina. Use him. 

And on the product side — get back to the shoe. Run the retros. Do the heritage drops. But also create the next Air Max moment. The next Pegasus. The next shoe that a teenager will remember wearing when they were fifteen. 

The Hard Stuff: Tariffs and Manufacturing 

Let’s be real about the headwinds. Tariffs are cutting into margins with no near-term relief. Nearly all of Nike’s production is outsourced to contract manufacturers across more than 30 countries, and reshoring — even partially — would take years and cost billions. Management knows this. Investors know this. 

What the June 30 earnings call needs to deliver is not a miracle. It’s a credible plan. Show investors that the restructuring is working. Show that inventory discipline is holding — it is, with inventories down 1% year-over-year. Show that North America is stabilizing — wholesale revenue was up 5% last quarter. And show that the marketing machine is coming back online in time to capture the World Cup moment. 

Cash and short-term investments still total $8.1 billion. That’s not a company in crisis. That’s a company with choices. Choose wisely.

Back to the Locker Room 

So here it is, Nike. The speech before the game. 

You are not a startup figuring out who you are. You are not a brand searching for a story. You have Michael Jordan. You have the Swoosh. You have over 20 consecutive years of dividend growth. You have the world’s biggest sporting event happening in your home country right now. 

Yes, the stock chart looks ugly. Yes, the margins are under pressure. Yes, the doubters are loud. 

But this is not the moment to play cautious. 

This is the moment to remind everyone — investors, consumers, and competitors alike — exactly who built this industry. Stop managing the decline. Start chasing the comeback. 

You already have the slogan. 

Just Do It. 

With ORCL shares surging over the last year on booming demand for AI infrastructure and cloud services, the upcoming earnings report could serve as a major catalyst for the stock. 

Analysts are expecting strong revenue and earnings growth, but the real focus will be on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), AI-related demand, backlog expansion, and management’s guidance for fiscal 2027. Also, as competition intensifies across the AI and cloud computing markets, Oracle’s results could offer important clues about the next phase of growth for both the company and the broader AI sector.

What Wall Street Expects

Analysts are calling for ORCL to report EPS of $1.96 per share on revenue of about $19.1 billion, representing year-over-year growth of roughly 15% and 20%, respectively. 

Oracle’s own guidance issued during its third-quarter report called for revenue growth of 19% to 21% and non-GAAP EPS between $1.96 and $2.00, putting current analyst expectations near the middle of management’s projected range. 

And while earnings and revenue will matter, investors are likely to focus most heavily on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) – which is expected to see revenue growth of about 90% year over year. Analysts will also listen for management commentary regarding capacity expansion, GPU availability, and future demand trends. 

Fueling more upside, analysts at Bank of America, for example, just reiterated a buy on ORCL ahead of Wednesday’s earnings. “We reiterate our Buy rating and raise our PO to $240 from $200, based on 26.5x our CY27E P/E estimates vs 22x prior, as underlying demand trends remain robust across both cloud infrastructure and database workloads.”

Analysts at Oppenheimer reiterated an outperform rating on the ORCL stock with a price target of $275. The firm cited strong growth in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), increased IT demand, and solid cloud earnings.

Analysts at Evercore reiterated an outperform rating on the stock with a price target of $245. The firm cited ongoing momentum in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) and positive strategic positioning heading into the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings.

Backlog Growth Could Be Another Catalyst

Another key metric is Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO), which represents contracted future revenue. Analysts expect Oracle’s backlog to continue climbing toward record levels, potentially approaching $600 billion. 

That could provide further evidence that demand for Oracle’s cloud and AI services remains exceptionally strong and could support revenue growth for years to come.  Strong RPO growth has been one of the primary drivers behind Wall Street’s increasingly bullish outlook on Oracle over the last year. 

Analysts will also be listening for strong 2027 guidance, in addition to updated revenue targets, cloud growth forecasts, and capital expenditure plans. Any indication that AI demand continues to exceed Oracle’s available capacity could be viewed positively by investors. 

Oracle’s AI Growth Story in Focus

In short, ORCL enters its June earnings report as one of the market’s most closely watched AI infrastructure plays. With Wall Street expecting approximately $19.1 billion in revenue and earnings of $1.96 per share, the focus will extend far beyond the headline numbers. Investors will be watching OCI growth, backlog expansion, AI-related demand, and fiscal 2027 guidance for clues about Oracle’s next phase of growth. If management can demonstrate that its AI-driven cloud momentum remains intact, Oracle could reinforce its position as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the ongoing artificial intelligence boom. 

Dell Has Been One of the Most Explosive Ahead of AI Earnings

Over the last few weeks, shares of Dell exploded from about $230 to a high of $295 as it heads into earnings on May 28. Wall Street analysts remain overwhelmingly bullish. JPMorgan Chase recently reiterated its Buy rating on DELL stock and maintained a $280 price target.

“We are expecting Dell to raise its earnings guidance for FY27 (Jan-end) again from the already raised outlook of 25% growth, although more modest in this case, on account of flow-through of the beat in F1Q27 but constrained by supply visibility, which still needs to catch up to the higher demand outlook for AI servers in particular,” the firm said, according to CNBC.

Meanwhile, analysts at Citigroup raised their price target on DELL to $290 from $235, citing “strong neo cloud/sovereign AI demand and improving enterprise mix” as key growth drivers, according to Seeking Alpha. Analysts at Mizuho Financial Group also raised their Dell price target to $300 from $260. The firm pointed to agentic AI workloads as a durable catalyst for sustained server demand and recurring revenue growth.

Investors will be paying close attention to Dell’s AI server backlog and commentary surrounding enterprise demand trends. With hyperscale cloud providers continuing to expand AI infrastructure spending, Dell remains one of the key beneficiaries of data center growth. 

Marvell: A Critical AI Infrastructure Player

Just as explosive regarding AI earnings, shares of Marvell ran from about $160 to $196 as it heads into earnings on May 27. A crucial semiconductor and infrastructure partner for hyperscalers building AI data centers, it’ll also give us an idea of what’s happening in the AI space.

Ahead of those earnings, analysts at HSBC upgraded the stock to a buy rating with a price target of $300 from $85. The firm cited undervalued revenue growth from optical interconnect and compute express link opportunities. It also cited potential upside from compute express link demand driven by memory shortages related to agentic AI CPU requirements. 

Susquehanna Financial raised its price target on Marvell to $230 from $100, with a positive rating. Stifel raised its price target to $210 from $140 with a Buy rating.

Salesforce: There is Hope for a Turnaround

While Salesforce hasn’t been as explosive, analysts are watching it closely to gauge the health of enterprise software spending and the pace of the company’s AI adoption. 

Salesforce met analysts’ revenue expectations last quarter, reporting revenues of $11.2 billion, up 12.1% year on year. It was a strong quarter for the company, with a solid beat of analysts’ billings estimates and full-year guidance of accelerating revenue growth. This quarter, the market is expecting Salesforce’s revenue to grow 12.4% year on year.

Unfortunately, ahead of those earnings, analysts at Bank of America downgraded CRM stock with an underperform rating and a price target of $180. The firm calls the company’s AI transition an “AI-driven structural reset.”

Still, bulls argue that Salesforce could surprise investors if adoption of its AI-powered Einstein platform continues to accelerate. 

The company has been aggressively integrating generative AI tools across its product ecosystem, including customer service, sales automation, and workflow management. Investors will likely focus on management’s forward guidance and commentary surrounding enterprise demand trends in the second half of the year. Strong subscription growth or improving operating margins could help offset concerns tied to slowing macroeconomic conditions and rising competition in enterprise software.

AI Earnings This Week Could Move the Entire Tech Sector

Ultimately, this week’s AI earnings reports may matter far beyond Dell, Marvell, and Salesforce themselves. Together, these companies touch nearly every layer of the artificial intelligence ecosystem, from servers and semiconductors to enterprise software adoption.

If management teams continue highlighting strong demand trends, expanding AI infrastructure spending, and accelerating customer adoption, it could strengthen the broader bullish case for AI stocks heading into the second half of 2026. But if these AI earnings reveal slowing enterprise budgets or signs that demand is cooling, investors may begin reassessing whether the market’s massive AI rally has moved too far ahead of fundamentals.

That’s why all eyes are on May 21. As inflation pressures persist and economic uncertainty continues building, the retailer’s upcoming earnings report could provide important insight into how consumers across different income levels are managing rising costs and changing spending habits.

Walmart is often viewed as one of the most important indicators of consumer spending trends. In fact, it’s widely considered to be a barometer.

As the country’s largest retailer, the company serves millions of shoppers every week across a wide range of income levels, making its financial results a useful snapshot of the overall health of the American consumer.

When the company last reported earnings in February, management highlighted growing financial pressure on lower-income households. CEO John Furner explained that consumers earning less than $50,000 annually were continuing to struggle with higher costs and limited budgets.

Why WMT Earnings Matter for the Broader Economy

According to Furner, many consumers are increasingly managing expenses on a paycheck-to-paycheck basis as inflation and elevated living costs continue reducing purchasing power.

At the same time, the company noted that financial strain was not limited to lower-income consumers. The retailer also reported increased traffic from households earning more than $100,000 annually.

That trend suggested that even higher-income consumers were becoming more price-conscious and searching for better deals amid economic uncertainty. Walmart indicated that a significant portion of its market share gains came from these higher-income shoppers who may have previously favored more expensive retailers.

Walmart Previously Warned About Consumer Financial Pressure

Those comments came several months ago, but concerns about inflation and consumer spending remain highly relevant today.

Prices for essential goods such as groceries, housing, utilities, and insurance continue to pressure household budgets. As a result, analysts expect WMT earnings to provide additional insight into how consumers are adjusting their spending habits in the current economic environment.

Consumers often become more cautious when inflation remains elevated or economic uncertainty increases, making the company’s commentary especially important for investors monitoring the broader economy.

Wall Street Expects Strong Grocery Demand to Support Walmart

Heading into the earnings release, analysts at Morgan Stanley reiterated an overweight rating on WMT shares and maintained a price target of $140.

The investment bank expects Walmart to continue benefiting from strong grocery demand and increased customer traffic. Analysts also believe comparable store sales could rise between 4% and 4.5%, above Wall Street’s broader expectation of approximately 3.9%.

Wall Street currently expects the company to report quarterly earnings of $0.65 per share, representing year-over-year growth of roughly 6.6%.

Analysts are also projecting quarterly revenue of approximately $174.38 billion, which would mark a 5.3% increase compared to the same period last year.

Investors Will Closely Watch Walmart’s Consumer Spending Commentary

Investors will not only focus on whether Walmart beats those expectations, but also on management’s guidance regarding consumer behavior and future economic trends.

Beyond the headline numbers, analysts will likely pay close attention to management’s commentary about inflation, grocery demand, discretionary spending, and the financial condition of consumers across different income brackets. Any signs of weakening demand or increasing economic stress could influence broader market sentiment, especially as investors continue looking for clues about the direction of the U.S. economy in 2026.

Walmart Earnings Could Influence Broader Market Sentiment

Because Walmart serves such a broad cross-section of American consumers, its earnings report often provides valuable insight into the strength of the overall economy.

With inflation pressures still elevated and consumer confidence facing renewed uncertainty, investors are likely to closely analyze WMT’s results for signs of changing spending behavior. Strong grocery demand and resilient customer traffic could help support optimism about consumer health, while weaker discretionary spending trends may reinforce concerns about slowing economic growth. Either way, the company’s earnings could become one of the market’s most important indicators of U.S. consumer strength heading into the second half of the year.

“We are expecting Dell to raise its earnings guidance for FY27 (Jan-end) again from the already raised outlook of 25% growth, although more modest in this case, on account of flow-through of the beat in F1Q27 but constrained by supply visibility, which still needs to catch up to the higher demand outlook for AI servers in particular,” the firm said, according to CNBC.

Meanwhile, analysts at Citigroup raised their price target on DELL to $290 from $235, citing “strong neocloud/sovereign AI demand and improving enterprise mix” as key growth drivers, according to Seeking Alpha.

Analysts at Mizuho Financial Group also boosted their Dell price target, increasing it to $300 from $260. The firm pointed to agentic AI workloads as a durable catalyst for sustained server demand and recurring revenue growth.

What Wall Street Expects from Dell Earnings

Over the past year, Dell has transformed from a traditional PC company into one of Wall Street’s premier artificial intelligence infrastructure plays.

The company’s rally has been fueled by surging demand for AI servers powered by NVIDIA GPUs, large-scale enterprise and hyperscaler orders, and growing expectations that the company will remain a major beneficiary of the AI spending boom.

Heading into earnings, expectations are high for big numbers.

Analysts expect Dell to report fiscal first-quarter revenue in the mid-$35 billion range, with adjusted earnings per share projected between $2.90 and $3.00. Investors will also be closely watching the company’s guidance for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Wall Street Will Be Focused on AI Server Demand

Dell previously projected $50 billion in AI server revenue for the fiscal year and disclosed an AI server backlog of approximately $43 billion. According to Dell CEO Michael Dell, the company’s AI server business has expanded rapidly, growing “from $2 billion to $10 billion to $25 billion,” with expectations of reaching “$50 billion this year,” according to MarketBeat.com.

The company also noted that more than 4,000 customers are now using what the company calls “AI factories,” adding that the industry remains in the “steep part of the S-curve” for AI adoption.

Another factor supporting DELL’s momentum is the broader acceleration in enterprise AI spending. Many corporations are still in the early stages of deploying generative AI workloads, which require substantial investments in servers, storage, networking equipment, and data center infrastructure. Dell has positioned itself as a one-stop provider for many of these needs, enabling it to capture spending across multiple layers of the AI ecosystem.

Investors will also pay close attention to margins during the earnings report. While AI servers have become a major growth driver, analysts want to see whether the company can maintain profitability as competition intensifies and supply chain constraints remain in focus. Any signs of improving margins or stronger-than-expected free cash flow could provide another catalyst for the stock. Conversely, weaker guidance or concerns about AI demand normalization could trigger volatility after the stock’s massive run higher in recent months.

Can DELL Stock’s AI Momentum Continue After Earnings?

With shares already posting a massive rally this year, Dell now faces a high-stakes earnings report that could determine whether the momentum continues. Investors will be looking for stronger guidance, continued growth in AI server demand, and evidence that Dell can keep scaling its artificial intelligence infrastructure business.

If the company delivers another strong quarter and raises its outlook, analysts believe DELL stock could have additional upside ahead. 

Analysts at Bank of America also reiterated a buy rating on NVIDIA ahead of earnings, with a price target of $320 a share. The firm cited earnings, the Computex trade show, the Vera Rubin launch, and a potential second-half cash return.

In addition, Oppenheimer reiterated an outperform rating, noting that, “We expect NVDA CY26 FCF to approach $200B with cash return spread between buybacks and seeding emergent AI ecosystem. If half of FCF is used for dividends, the yield would be nearly 2.5%. Reiterate Outperform, $265 target,” as quoted by CNBC.

NVIDIA is Expected to Post Another Solid Quarter

As stated earlier, the tech giant will release its Q1 2026 earnings report on May 20. Analysts are looking for revenue to range from $70 billion to $78 billion, or about 60% year-over-year growth. EPS is expected to nearly double. And its data center segment is expected to drive significant growth, supported by heavy spending from hyperscale customers such as Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL).

Beyond the quarterly results, guidance may be a substantial catalyst for the stock. Investors are looking for reassurance that AI spending remains durable into the second half of the year.

Last quarter, NVIDIA posted revenue of $68.1 billion, up 73% year over year. Full-year sales totaled $215.9 billion, up 65% year over year. And according to CEO Jensen Huang, Blackwell remains a key revenue catalyst, while the upcoming Vera Rubin platform is expected to grab the baton.

“Computing demand is growing exponentially — the agentic AI inflection point has arrived. Grace Blackwell with NV Link is the king of inference today — delivering an order-of-magnitude lower cost per token — and Vera Rubin will extend that leadership even further,” he noted.

Hyperscalers are Spending Billions of Dollars

We also have to consider that NVIDIA will continue to benefit from accelerating AI infrastructure spending. In 2025, some of the biggest tech firms spent about $415 billion on AI infrastructure, which benefited NVIDIA. For 2026, that’s expected to balloon to $630 billion. Moving forward, according to NVIDIA, spending could reach $3 trillion.

Major companies are spending billions on AI ambitions.

In fact, Microsoft said it would spend $190 billion during the year. Amazon still plans to invest roughly $200 billion. And Alphabet said that capex spending, already elevated this year (between $180 billion and $190 billion) would significantly increase in 2027.

All of which is beneficial for NVIDIA, which shows no real signs of cooling off. It also tells us the AI bubble that some are concerned about isn’t popping any time soon, either.

Another important factor for investors is that NVIDIA continues to expand beyond just AI training chips. The company is increasingly positioning itself as the backbone of the broader AI economy, including inference, robotics, autonomous systems, networking, and enterprise AI infrastructure. That diversification could help support long-term growth even if certain parts of the AI market experience temporary slowdowns.

At the same time, NVIDIA’s software ecosystem, particularly CUDA, remains a powerful competitive advantage. While rivals continue to develop competing AI accelerators, many developers and enterprises remain deeply tied to NVIDIA’s platform, creating a level of customer stickiness that may be difficult to disrupt in the near term.

All Eyes Are on NVIDIA’s Guidance

As we near NVIDIA earnings on May 20, we are looking for a beat and raise.
The company heads into its May 20 earnings report with momentum firmly on its side. Between accelerating AI infrastructure spending, strong demand for its Blackwell and upcoming Vera Rubin platforms, and continued investment from hyperscale customers such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet, the company appears well-positioned to deliver another impressive quarter.

More importantly, investors will be closely watching guidance for signs that the AI spending boom remains intact through the second half of the year and beyond. If NVIDIA can once again beat expectations and raise forecasts, it could reinforce the company’s leadership in the AI revolution — and potentially provide another major catalyst for tech stocks overall.

At the core, every major publicly traded security offers the potential for future performance in exchange for current (actual) payment. For something like COST stock, the potential is quite limited — there’s only so much that a big-box retailer can do beyond selling stuff at a competitive price. More to the point, the reward is very much tangible because we have a long history of evidence that the underlying business is viable.

On the other hand, you have speculative tech firms that may be running a lot of red ink on their financials. Here, the potential is extremely vast, in part because the actual business remains questionable. Obviously, this dynamic figures into the share price, which is why such wagers don’t command COST stock like valuations.

It’s possible that, under similar conditions, retailers like Costco might face serious downside pressure. After all, an energy crisis and geopolitical conflicts don’t exactly mix well for consumer sentiment. However, COST stock has bucked such expectations, gaining 17% on a year-to-date basis. At the same time, COST has been stuck in a sideways consolidation since February — but a solid earnings report could break the deadlock.

On May 28, Costco will release its financial results for the third quarter, with analysts looking for earnings per share of $4.92 on revenue of $69.1 billion. Given its track record, there’s a decent chance that the company will exceed expectations. If so, that could help lift COST stock from its current stalemated technical performance.

Smart Money Traders Remain Risk-Balanced on COST Stock

A key indicator that points to a risk-balanced sentiment for COST stock is the volatility skew, particularly for the June 18 expiration date. By definition, the skew identifies implied volatility (IV) across the strike price spectrum of a given options chain. Since IV represents the expected kinesis of a security, the fact that traders are willing to pay for both downside protection and upside convexity reveals uncertainty over Costco’s forward trajectory.

People can really get into the weeds when it comes to options-related lexicon. For me, the volatility skew is akin to an insurance market. For COST stock (for the aforementioned expiration date), the main priority appears to be downside protection. Essentially, the premiums for out-the-money (OTM) puts are higher on a volatility basis compared to OTM calls.

Basically, traders don’t want to risk Costco stock tumbling following the underlying company’s earnings disclosure without adequate protection. Nevertheless, the premiums for both calls and puts are being bid up for strikes north of the current spot price. This structure tells us that sophisticated market participants don’t want to risk not having any leveraged exposure should COST break the present technical deadlock.

Both outcomes are possible, and without excessive confidence in either potential trajectory, the smart money is buying insurance for both sides. Another way to look at the volatility skew is that traders are worried about unstable price discovery. Because of the dynamic fundamental environment, it’s very possible that COST stock could materially detach from the current equilibrium.

This point underscores my earlier statements about premature presuppositions of smart money prescience. Yes, it is rational to assume that professional traders are better stock pickers than the average Joe or Jane, particularly because they trade more upstream to the custody of information (i.e., they’re not reading Motley Fool articles because Motley Fool is writing articles about them).

However, just because auto insurance premiums rise doesn’t necessarily mean an auto accident is more likely to occur. While the skew provides an interesting sentiment snapshot, it doesn’t give us a probability of what might happen next.

For that, we can turn to an inductive forecasting model.

Reading the Tealeaves for Costco Stock

Earlier, I stated that COST stock enjoys an upward bias. Specifically, using a dataset going back to January 2019, the odds that a random 10-week-long position will end up in the black are 71.7%. This figure is calculated from 261 rolling 10-week sequences out of a total of 364 sequences that crossed above the starting point. By distribution, we would expect COST to range between $990 and $1,070 (assuming a starting price of $1008.79).

Now, if we were to assume that Costco can deliver the goods for fiscal Q3, one of the more intriguing ideas to consider is the 1080/1100 bull call spread expiring June 18. For this trade to be fully profitable, Costco stock would need to rise through the $1,100 strike at expiration. That’s a little more than a 9% move from the current spot price, which is awfully ambitious.

Even the breakeven price of $1,084.30 is 7.49% above spot, which seems like a Hail Mary for COST stock. Subsequently, the probability of profit for this trade is defined at only 18.2%. This makes sense as $1,084 would be beyond the expected aggregate range of COST.

Still, here’s where it gets interesting. In the past 10 weeks, Costco stock printed six up weeks but incurred a downward slope. Under this rare 6-4-D sequence, the expected distribution (based on an inductive analysis of prior 6-4-D patterns) would approximately land between $950 and $1,200.

Admittedly, you would be incurring greater risk here, but the reward tail conspicuously reaches further (to $1,200 instead of $1,070). In addition, probability density would peak at $1,100, right where the aforementioned second-leg strike sits.

Yes, Black-Scholes-related forecasting models may assign an extremely low probability for the above spread to be fully profitable. However, under an inductive framework, COST stock could be favorably mispriced.

As big tech earnings season heats up, each company represents a different layer of the AI ecosystem—from Palantir’s software and defense exposure to AMD’s data center chips and Arm’s architecture dominance. With all three stocks rallying sharply into their reports, the key question isn’t just whether they deliver strong results, but whether those results are strong enough to justify current valuations.

Palantir Earnings: AI and Defense Demand Drive Growth

Palantir will post earnings on Tuesday after the closing bell. In its last quarter, the company beat on earnings thanks to AI and defense demand. In fact, last quarter’s EPS of 25 cents beat by two cents. Revenue of $1.4 billion, up 69.2% year over year, beat by $60 million.

For the current quarter, the company is looking to revenue of between $1.532 billion to $1.536 billion, which is above estimates of $1.33 billion. Wall Street is looking for EPS of 28 cents on revenue of $1.54 billion.

The company continues to benefit from its role as a key software provider to U.S. defense agencies, making it a direct beneficiary of rising global defense spending. Notably, Palantir earnings have beaten both revenue and EPS estimates 100% of the time over the past two years.

Loop Capital expects another strong showing, citing continued AI momentum, positive field checks, and upbeat management commentary as reasons for a likely “beat and raise.”

AMD Earnings: AI Chip Demand Meets High Expectations

AMD earnings will be released Tuesday after the bell, placing the company squarely in the spotlight during this big tech earnings cycle. Since the start of April, shares of AMD rocketed from a low of about $200 to a high of $360.54.

That surge has been helped by upgrades from Susquehanna and higher capex spending, both of which are solid catalysts for companies like AMD. Now, heading into earnings, analysts are looking for $9.88 billion in revenue and adjusted EPS of $1.27 a share, each up about 33% year over year.

Deutsche Bank added that, “Overall, the combination of secular/cyclical revenue tailwinds and [operating margin] leverage supports rev/EPS upside potential [Deutsche Bank estimate slightly above] Street. While we applaud this fundamental upside potential, we also believe it to be largely reflected in AMD’s share price following the recent significant appreciation. Consequently, maintain Hold rating,” as also quoted by CNBC.

Arm Earnings: AI Infrastructure Tailwinds Continue

Much like AMD, ARM has been explosive. Since March, it has run from about $120 to a recent high of $211.18, where it’s still fighting to push even higher. Helping, ARM recently unveiled its new AGI CPU and announced a strategic collaboration with IBM to expand enterprise computing capabilities. In addition, analysts are looking for EPS of 58 cents a share on revenue of $1.47 billion, which would again represent continued growth for the company. 

Arm Holdings is expected to post earnings on Wednesday after the market closes. Heading into the report, analysts expect AMD to report $9.88 billion in revenue and adjusted EPS of $1.27—both representing roughly 33% year-over-year growth.

However, expectations may already be priced in. Deutsche Bank noted that while AMD’s revenue and EPS upside potential remain strong due to both secular and cyclical tailwinds, much of that optimism is already reflected in the stock’s valuation. The firm maintains a Hold rating despite acknowledging the company’s strong AI infrastructure positioning.

Wells Fargo also raised its price target on ARM to $220 from $175 with an Overweight rating. The firm cited ARM’s strong positioning in AI-driven data center markets, where demand for power-efficient chips continues to rocket higher.

Big Tech Earnings Outlook: Can AI Stocks Justify the Rally?

As this round of big tech earnings unfolds, Palantir, AMD, and Arm earnings will offer critical insight into the durability of the AI trade. Each company is executing well within its niche, but all three face the same challenge: meeting or exceeding very high expectations.

For investors, AI stocks’ earnings are no longer just about growth—they’re about sustaining momentum at scale. Even strong results may not be enough if guidance disappoints or valuations appear stretched after recent rallies.

That makes this week especially important. These big tech earnings reports won’t just confirm past performance—they’ll help determine whether the next leg of the AI rally is supported by fundamentals or already priced in. Investors should be prepared for volatility because in this environment, expectations matter just as much as execution.