Harpinder Kang @HarpinderKang: "Mag 7 earnings season is..."

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Mag 7 earnings season is kicking off this week, and it’s looking interesting. 5 out of 7 of these companies underperformed the $SPX500 last year and if you took out Google’s 65% run, the group’s average return would’ve been even lower. Fast forward to 2026, and the story is similar: 4 are down year to date, with the group off about 0.5%, while the S&P is up 1%, the equal weight index up 3.8%, and small caps are up 7.5%. The tide seems to be shifting from big, concentrated plays to a broader, more balanced market. The year has started off strong, helped by easy money: the Fed quietly restarted light QE in December, Q1 brought tax perks from the OBBB, and a new Fed Chair coming in May is expected to deliver rate cuts so that should help the market. But in my opinion later this year, things could get choppier as investors start to separate true AI winners from those just riding the hype. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵: 𝙈𝙚𝙩𝙖 $META (Meta Platforms Inc) : Ads are booming, but the new “Meta Compute” project could hit cash flow as spending rises. So their expense guidance will be very important going forward. Also OpenAI ad push in coming months could intensify competition. 𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩 $MSFT (Microsoft): Azure stays strong thanks to OpenAI, though weaker PC demand due to rising DRAM prices might hurt outlook. Keep an eye on whether Google’s Gemini and Anthropic start eating into OpenAI’s momentum. 𝙏𝙚𝙨𝙡𝙖 $TSLA (Tesla Motors, Inc.): The 2026 outlook could take a hit once EV tax credits expire, but short-term sentiment still revolves around what’s next from Elon Robo taxis, FSD, or energy. I am also expecting some SpaceX and Grok commentary. Really hard to predict which way this stock will go. 𝘼𝙥𝙥𝙡𝙚 $AAPL (Apple): Margins may feel some pressure from memory costs, but the expected foldable iPhone with AI powered Siri could kick off a big upgrade cycle later this year. If there's any selloff, I would expect that to be short lived. Lastly, this week we also have Fed's interest rate decision but I mostly expect that to be a non event compared to Mag7 earnings. Let's see how this week pans out.

Not investment advice. The author may have financial interests in the mentioned instruments.