As earnings season begins to ramp up, this week includes reports from a handful of closely watched tech darlings. Three companies worth watching are electric-car maker Tesla (TSLA -1.92%), social media giant Facebook (META -4.13%), and iPhone-maker Apple (AAPL -1.22%).
All three growth stocks have seen their shares soar over the past 12 months. Can the three Wall Street darlings live up to high expectations?
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Tesla
We already know Tesla had a good first quarter as far as vehicle deliveries go. The company delivered a record 184,800 vehicles during the period, up 109% year over year. The big question for investors, however, is how these strong sales translated to the electric-car maker's financials.
Analysts, on average, expect Tesla to report 72% revenue growth and non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.79, up from $0.23 in the year-ago period.
Tesla is scheduled to report its first-quarter results after market close on Monday, April 26.
Reporting a few days later, on Wednesday, April 28, is Facebook. Shareholders will look for strong growth in the company's top line as advertisers ramp up spending to capitalize on a reopening economy.
In Facebook's fourth quarter of 2020, revenue rose 33% year over year, an acceleration from 22% growth in the prior quarter. Facebook management said in its fourth-quarter earnings call that it expects its first-quarter revenue growth rate to either remain at about 33% or even modestly accelerate.
Analysts, on average, expect Facebook to grow revenue about 33% year over year, with earnings per share increasing from $1.71 in the year-ago period to $2.36.
Apple
Growth expectations for Apple during the company's second quarter of fiscal 2021 are high. But much of this expected growth is simply due to the iPhone-maker's easy year-ago comparison. During the first three months of 2020, Apple's business faced both supply and demand challenges as COVID-19 hit China. Revenue during the period only increased 1% year over year and earnings per share rose just 4%.
Given Apple's easy year-ago comparison and the company's broad-based business momentum across all product segments and geographies, the consensus analyst estimate is modeling for Apple's revenue and earnings per share in fiscal Q2 to increase 32% and 53%, respectively.
Another key area Apple investors should check on is the company's services segment, which is becoming increasingly important as it grows as a percentage of Apple's total revenue. The segment, which includes revenue from the App Store, Apple's subscription services like Apple Music and Apple TV+, and other recurring revenue sources, saw its revenue grow 16% year over year. Investors should look for similarly strong growth (if not even stronger) in this key segment in fiscal Q2.
Apple reports its fiscal second-quarter results on the same day as Facebook after market close on Wednesday, Apr, 28.
