Apple beat.
Then Facebook crushed quarterly profit forecasts.
Now it’s Google parent Alphabet’s chance to turn heads on Wall Street and top analysts’ profit forecast and push stock prices higher.
It often is said earnings are the fuel that feeds the stock market engine. Well, a better-than-expected earnings report from iPhone maker Apple after Tuesday’s market close pushed shares up 6.5% Wednesday.
Not to be outdone, social media giant Facebook crushed both earnings and revenue forecasts after the bell Wednesday, pushing shares of Mark Zuckerberg’s company up more than 6% in after-hours trading.
Alphabet has a chance of scoring the Wall Street version of a hat trick if it, too, can score on its quarterly earnings report Thursday.
There’s no denying that earnings beats from well-known U.S. companies and leading tech companies will go a long way toward reassuring investors that the global economy, despite pockets of weakness, is still able to support the purchases of gadgets such as iPhones and digital advertisements on Facebook.
According to Thomson Reuters, Alphabet is expected to earn $8.02 a share in the second quarter, up roughly 25% from the $6.99 it earned in the same period a year ago.
Wall Street will be watching Alphabet and hoping the search giant doesn’t shoot wide on its earnings report.
