Here are the 7 big things we’re focused on in the stock market this week
After last week’s barrage of earnings , it’s time for an encore, with another big chunk of the companies in the S & P 500 slated to report fourth-quarter results this week, including six more stocks in the portfolio. Earnings season so far has been strong: 75% of S & P 500 companies that have reported have had a positive earnings-per-share surprise, and 65% have had a positive revenue surprise. By week’s end, more than half of the index’s companies will have reported. The Labor Department releases its all-important monthly jobs report for January on Friday. This is one of the most important reports for investors. The United States is a consumer-driven economy, with roughly two-thirds of GDP tied to private consumption. That means economic growth requires more consumer spending, which requires jobs and healthy wage increases. Investors can get a pretty good report card on the consumer by looking at the job additions, unemployment rate, and average annual wage gains in the report. As of Friday, economists expect 75,000 additions, the unemployment rate to remain unchanged at 4.4%, and 0.3% monthly increase in average hourly earnings, according to FactSet. Less important are the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) on Tuesday, which gauges the tightness of the labor market, and the ADP employment survey on Wednesday, a not-so-great proxy for the Friday report. Outside of jobs, the manufacturing PMI is released on Monday and the services PMI on Wednesday. The manufacturing sector is still expected to remain in contraction, while the services sector is likely to continue expanding. Here’s our focus for each of the six portfolio companies reporting this week: Industrial company Eaton last week announced plans to spin off its Mobility Group business to shareholders. This is an excellent move by management as it will allow the company to focus more on its faster-growing, higher-margin Electrical and Aerospace businesses. We look forward to learning more about this transaction on the call. The last few quarters have not met our standards, but we see strong growth ahead, driven by its large backlog and exposure to secular growth markets such as data centers. As of Friday, analysts are looking for revenue of $7.1 billion and earnings of $3.29 per share, according to LSEG. Investors in Eli Lilly are most interested in sales of the company’s GLP-1 drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound. The Street expects the duo to drive sales of just over $10 billion in the quarter. We also need an update on orforglipron, its once-daily oral GLP-1 drug. The drug is expected to receive FDA approval in the coming few months, and analysts are forecasting $1 billion in sales for 2026. Management’s 2026 revenue guide will also be important as we seek to better understand how Lilly can offset TrumpRx’s impact on GLP-1 prices through increased Medicare patient access and higher volumes. As of Friday, analysts are looking for revenue of $17.93 billion and earnings of $6.93 per share, according to LSEG. Spending at Alphabet is a key focus . If the search and cloud giant can show, as Meta did last week , that its huge investments in the artificial intelligence buildout are paying off, investors should be satisfied. Early indications are that the launch of its Gemini 3 chatbot has been successful. We’d like to see commentary indicating rising demand. Cloud capacity, which is key to growth and may provide a read-through for Broadcom, a custom TPU partner, is a second key issue. Search results will be heavily scrutinized, but we estimate that AI is strengthening search, which remains Alphabet’s bread and butter. Still, any signs of possible cannibalization of ad revenue may call into question the benefits of AI growth to Alphabet’s near-term earnings power. As of Friday, analysts are looking for revenue of $95.23 billion and earnings of $2.63 per share. In the absence of clinical data on its key pipeline drugs, Bristol Myers Squibb’s investors will zero in on commercial performance. The pharma company is dealing with the loss of exclusivity for several drugs, including Revlimid, Pomalyst, Sprycel, and Abraxane. As a result, companywide revenue is expected to decline in 2026. Given these headwinds, we’d like to see trends in the “growth” portfolio, which includes drugs such as Opdivo, Reblozyl, Opdualag, Camzysos, Sotyku, and Cobenfy. As of Friday, according to estimates compiled by LSEG, analysts are looking for revenue of $12.28 billion and earnings of $1.12 per share. The industrial gas giant Linde’s quarterly report is a key test for a once-steady stock that has been on a wild ride since the fall. After topping out in September, Linde shares came under significant pressure as global industrial activity remained subdued, limiting volume growth for Linde’s gases. However, the stock has mounted an impressive comeback over the past 6 weeks, driven by a timely share purchase by CEO Sanjiv Lamba and his reassurance on “Mad Money” with Jim that Linde’s long-term growth model is intact. While shares remain below their Sept. 11 closing high around $483 apiece, the stock has rallied more than 17% off its December low. Now, Linde’s earnings report will determine whether the comeback was justified. As of Friday, analysts are looking for revenue of $8.64 billion and earnings of $4.18 per share. Beyond the headline results, investors will pay close attention to management’s commentary on long-term growth drivers, such as decarbonization efforts, semiconductors, and the space industry, where Linde supplies gases that support roughly 80% of US commercial space launches. The growth of Amazon’s cloud unit, Amazon Web Services, will be heavily scrutinized when it reports Thursday. AWS’s performance is important not just because it is the company’s profit engine, but also because its smaller rivals — Microsoft’s Azure and Google Cloud — will have already provided their results by Thursday night, and the market is closely following the competitive dynamics of the cloud industry in the AI era. Amazon’s current quarter guidance for sales and operating income also tends to move the stock. On the earnings call, investors will be listening for CEO Andy Jassy’s commentary on AI computing demand — last quarter, he was quite bullish and defended the massive spending on new data centers. Finally, updates on Amazon’s physical store strategy and its immensely profitable advertising business are on our radar. As of Friday, according to LSEG, analysts are looking for revenue of $211.32 billion and earnings of $1.97 per share. Week ahead Monday, Feb. 2 Before the bell: Walt Disney Co (DIS), Aptiv PLC (APTV), IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (IDXX), NAPCO Security Technologies, Inc. (NSSC), Revvity, Inc. (RVTY), Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN) After the bell: Simon Prpoerty Group (SPG), Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR), Teradyne, Inc. (TER), NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXPI), Fabrinet (FN), Physicians Realty Trust (DOC), DaVita Inc. (DVA) 10:00 a.m. ET: ISM Manufacturing Tuesday, Feb. 3 Before the bell: Eaton Corp. (ETN), PayPal (PYPL), PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP), Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK), Pfizer, Inc. (PFE), Galaxy Digital Inc. (GLXY), MPLX LP (MPLX), Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM), Hubbell Incorporated (HUBB), Gartner, Inc. (IT), AMETEK, Inc. (AME), ATI Inc. (ATI), Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (EPD), fuboTV Inc. (FUBO), TransDigm Group Inc. (TDG), Atkore Inc. (ATKR), Ball Corporation (BALL), Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (BR) After the bell: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), Supermicro (SMCI), Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (CMG), Enphase Energy Inc (ENPH), Lumentum Holdings Inc. (LITE), Amgen, Inc. (AMGN), Amcor plc (AMCR), Amdocs, Ltd. (DOX), Chubb Corporation (CB), Lumen Technologies (LUMN), Prudential Financial, Inc. (PRU), Cirrus Logic, Inc. (CRUS), Corteva, Inc. (CTVA), Electronic Arts Inc (EA), 8×8 Inc. (EGHT), Mondelez International Inc. (MDLZ) 10:00 a.m. ET: JOLTS Wednesday, Feb. 4 Before the bell: Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY), GE HealthCare (GEHC), Uber Technologies, Inc. (UBER), Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO), Boston Scientific Corporation (BSX), Johnson Controls, Inc. (JCI), AbbVie Inc. (ABBV), Adient plc (ADNT), CME Group Inc (CME), Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH), UBS AG (UBS), CDW Corp (CDW), Flex (FLEX), Ares Capital Corp (ARCC), Avery Dennison Corp. (AVY), Bunge Ltd. (BG), Evercore (EVR), Fortive Corporation (FTV) After the bell: Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL), Arm Holdings plc (ARM), Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM), O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. (ORLY), Coherent Inc. (COHR), e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (ELF), Snap Inc. (SNAP), Symbotic Inc. (SYM), Allegiant Travel Company (ALGT), Crown Castle International Corp. (CCI), Fluence Energy, Inc. (FLNC), MetLife Inc. (MET), TTM Technologies Inc. (TTMI), Align Technology, Inc. (ALGN), Allstate Corp. (ALL), Moelis & Company (MC), McKesson Corp. (MCK), AFLAC, Inc. (AFL) 8:15 a.m. ET: ADP Employment Survey 10:00 a.m. ET: ISM Services Thursday, Feb. 5 Before the bell: Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY), Linde plc (LIN), ConocoPhillips (COP), Energizer Holdings, Inc. (ENR), Cigna Corp. (CI), Cummins, Inc. (CMI), Cemex S.A.B. de C.V. (CX), Estée Lauder Companies, Inc. (EL), Shell plc (SHEL), Barrick Mining Corporation (B), BCE, Inc. (BCE), Canada Goose Holdings Inc. (GOOS), OneMain Holdings, Inc. (OMF), Xcel Energy, Inc. (XEL), Asbury Automotive Group Inc. (ABG), AGCO Corporation (AGCO), Ares Management LP (ARES) After the bell: Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), Iris Energy Limited (IREN), Strategy Inc (MSTR), Reddit, Inc. (RDDT), Roblox Corporation (RBLX), Bloom Energy Corporation (BE), Affirm Holdings, Inc. (AFRM), Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP), Atlassian Corporation Plc (TEAM), Arrow Electronics, Inc. (ARW), Fortinet (FTNT), Genpact Limited (G), Barrick Gold Corporation (GOLD), Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ARWR), Digital Realty Trust Inc (DLR), Doximity, Inc. (DOCS), Gen Digital Inc. (GEN), Illumina Inc. (ILMN) 8:30 a.m. ET: Initial Jobless Claims Friday, Feb. 6 Before the bell: Canopy Growth Corporation (CGC), Roivant Sciences Ltd. (ROIV), Biogen Inc. (BIIB), Cboe Global Markets, Inc (CBOE), Centene Corporation (CNC), nVent Electric plc (NVT), Under Armour, Inc. (UAA), AutoNation Inc. (AN), Graham Corporation (GHM), Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (PAA), Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), AerCap Holdings N.V. (AER), Carlyle Group L.P. (CG) 8:30 a.m. ET: Nonfarm Payrolls (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. 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