Magnificent 7 Earnings Ahead: 3 ETFs To Ride The Wave
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Jan 28 2025
0mins
Should l Buy MSFT?
Source: Benzinga
Earnings Season and Magnificent 7: The fourth-quarter earnings season highlights the "Magnificent 7" tech stocks (Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, NVIDIA, Tesla, Meta), with ETFs focusing on these companies gaining popularity as they prepare to report earnings growth of 18% in 2025.
Challenges and Opportunities: While Tesla faces delivery challenges and mixed fortunes, Microsoft and Meta show promise with significant AI investments. Apple struggles with sales momentum, Alphabet contends with antitrust issues, and Amazon continues to thrive in e-commerce and cloud computing.
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Analyst Views on MSFT
Wall Street analysts forecast MSFT stock price to rise
34 Analyst Rating
32 Buy
2 Hold
0 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 413.620
Low
500.00
Averages
631.36
High
678.00
Current: 413.620
Low
500.00
Averages
631.36
High
678.00
About MSFT
Microsoft Corporation is a technology company. The Company develops and supports software, services, devices, and solutions. The Company’s segments include Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of products and services in its portfolio of productivity, communication, and information services. This segment primarily comprises: Office Commercial, Office Consumer, LinkedIn, and Dynamics business solutions. The Intelligent Cloud segment consists of server products and cloud services, including Azure and other cloud services, SQL Server, Windows Server, Visual Studio, System Center, and related Client Access Licenses (CALs), and Nuance and GitHub; and Enterprise Services, including enterprise support services, industry solutions and Nuance professional services. The More Personal Computing segment primarily comprises Windows, Devices, Gaming, and search and news advertising.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
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- Diversified Business Model: As the world's largest enterprise software provider, Microsoft's operations span operating systems, cloud platforms, hardware, and social media, creating a robust ecosystem that businesses heavily rely on for daily operations, enhancing its strategic significance.
- Stable Dividend Growth: Although Microsoft has a modest dividend yield of 0.8%, it has increased its dividend by 152% over the past decade and has raised its dividend for 21 consecutive years, showcasing its stable cash flow and commitment to shareholders, positioning it to potentially become a Dividend King.
- Cash Reserve Advantage: With $78.3 billion in cash reserves, Microsoft has a safety net that allows it to navigate economic uncertainties while actively pursuing new technologies, particularly in artificial intelligence, thereby enhancing its competitive edge in the tech industry.
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- Profit Explosion: During the first-quarter earnings season, Cramer noted significant profit growth among companies tied to AI and data centers, driving major indexes higher and reflecting strong investor confidence in this sector.
- Five-Layer Cake Model: Cramer referenced Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's five-layer cake model, emphasizing the interdependence of power, semiconductors, hardware, AI models, and application layers, illustrating the complexity and breadth of the AI economy.
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- Risk Focus Areas: U.S. government scientists are concentrating on 'demonstrable risks,' including preventing advanced models from being used for cyberattacks or developing chemical and biological weapons, ensuring that AI technologies are not exploited by adversarial forces to maintain national security.
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- Market Trend Analysis: Jim Cramer highlights that the boom in data centers and artificial intelligence is rapidly expanding, impacting nearly every sector of the market, indicating a strong economic transformation trend.
- Profit Growth Drivers: During the first-quarter earnings season, Cramer notes that companies tied to AI and data centers have achieved significant profit growth, driving major indexes higher and reflecting increased investor confidence in these sectors.
- Five-Layer Cake Model: Cramer references Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's framework, likening the AI economy to a 'five-layer cake,' emphasizing that various industries from power to semiconductors, hardware, cloud computing, and applications are benefiting from this trend.
- Investment Opportunity Outlook: Cramer stresses that the AI boom is not just a tech story but a broad economic shift, advising investors to focus on S&P index funds and potential high-quality stocks to capitalize on future investment opportunities.
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- Margin Expansion: The company's gross profit margin expanded by 300 basis points to 53%, while operating expenses grew at a slower pace than revenue, resulting in a 95% increase in net income to $1.38 billion on a GAAP basis, indicating substantial operational efficiency improvements.
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- Financial Robustness: Microsoft reported $82.9 billion in revenue for the most recent quarter, surpassing the combined revenues of Broadcom, Lenovo, and IBM over the past four quarters, demonstrating its strong profitability and market leadership, which ensures resilience during economic fluctuations.
- Diversified Business Model: As the world's largest enterprise software provider, Microsoft's operations span operating systems, cloud platforms, hardware, and social media, creating a robust ecosystem that businesses heavily rely on for daily operations, enhancing its strategic significance.
- Stable Dividend Growth: Although Microsoft has a modest dividend yield of 0.8%, it has increased its dividend by 152% over the past decade and has raised its dividend for 21 consecutive years, showcasing its stable cash flow and commitment to shareholders, positioning it to potentially become a Dividend King.
- Cash Reserve Advantage: With $78.3 billion in cash reserves, Microsoft has a safety net that allows it to navigate economic uncertainties while actively pursuing new technologies, particularly in artificial intelligence, thereby enhancing its competitive edge in the tech industry.
See More
WSJ: Proposal to Separate OpenAI's Robotics and Consumer Hardware Divisions Denied
- Rejection of Division Plans: Plans to spin out OpenAI's robotics and consumer hardware divisions were rejected.
- Implications for OpenAI: The decision may impact OpenAI's strategic direction and focus on its core AI technologies.
See More
AI Economy's Expanding Impact Across Markets
- Market Trend Analysis: Jim Cramer highlights that the boom in data centers and artificial intelligence is rapidly expanding, impacting nearly every corner of the market and indicating strong economic growth potential.
- Profit Explosion: During the first-quarter earnings season, Cramer noted significant profit growth among companies tied to AI and data centers, driving major indexes higher and reflecting strong investor confidence in this sector.
- Five-Layer Cake Model: Cramer referenced Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's five-layer cake model, emphasizing the interdependence of power, semiconductors, hardware, AI models, and application layers, illustrating the complexity and breadth of the AI economy.
- Investment Opportunities: Cramer asserts that the AI boom is not just a tech story but a broad economic transformation, advising investors to focus on S&P index funds and select stocks to capitalize on future investment opportunities.
See More
U.S. Expands AI Model Risk Assessment Program
- Expanded Collaborations: The Trump administration has announced the inclusion of Google DeepMind, xAI, and Microsoft in its AI model risk assessment program, aiming to enhance the security evaluation of advanced AI models through collaboration with these companies, thereby strengthening national cybersecurity defenses.
- Risk Focus Areas: U.S. government scientists are concentrating on 'demonstrable risks,' including preventing advanced models from being used for cyberattacks or developing chemical and biological weapons, ensuring that AI technologies are not exploited by adversarial forces to maintain national security.
- Model Testing Progress: OpenAI is collaborating with CAISI to test its latest GPT-5.5-Cyber model, focusing on defensive cybersecurity, while Anthropic has provided access to both publicly available and unreleased models for vulnerability probing, enhancing the security of AI systems.
- Security Mechanism Discoveries: Collaborations between Anthropic and CAISI revealed techniques to bypass safety mechanisms, and OpenAI identified vulnerabilities in its ChatGPT Agent that could be exploited by attackers, prompting further repairs and improvements to AI system security.
See More
The Broad Impact of the AI Economy
- Market Trend Analysis: Jim Cramer highlights that the boom in data centers and artificial intelligence is rapidly expanding, impacting nearly every sector of the market, indicating a strong economic transformation trend.
- Profit Growth Drivers: During the first-quarter earnings season, Cramer notes that companies tied to AI and data centers have achieved significant profit growth, driving major indexes higher and reflecting increased investor confidence in these sectors.
- Five-Layer Cake Model: Cramer references Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's framework, likening the AI economy to a 'five-layer cake,' emphasizing that various industries from power to semiconductors, hardware, cloud computing, and applications are benefiting from this trend.
- Investment Opportunity Outlook: Cramer stresses that the AI boom is not just a tech story but a broad economic shift, advising investors to focus on S&P index funds and potential high-quality stocks to capitalize on future investment opportunities.
See More
AMD Surpasses Expectations in Q1 Earnings Report
- Significant Revenue Growth: AMD's Q1 revenue surged 38% year-over-year to $10.25 billion, exceeding analyst expectations of $9.91 billion, with adjusted EPS of $1.37 reflecting a 43% increase, showcasing the company's robust performance amid rising AI infrastructure demand.
- Margin Expansion: The company's gross profit margin expanded by 300 basis points to 53%, while operating expenses grew at a slower pace than revenue, resulting in a 95% increase in net income to $1.38 billion on a GAAP basis, indicating substantial operational efficiency improvements.
- Strong Data Center Demand: Revenue from the data center segment jumped 57% year-over-year to $5.8 billion, driven by robust demand for Epyc CPUs and Instinct GPUs, highlighting AMD's competitive edge in the high-performance computing market.
- Optimistic Future Outlook: AMD projects a 46% revenue growth for Q2, reaching $11.2 billion, surpassing market expectations of $10.5 billion, and with partnerships with Meta and AWS, the company is well-positioned for strong growth in AI chips and cloud computing.
See More
