Despite the unseasonably cool weather across parts of the country this time of year, things will heat up on Wall Street in April. There are plenty of things for investors to watch.
From the launch of a highly anticipated smartphone to the beginning of the new earnings season, let's start looking out to some of the events that will unfold this month.
April 2
Tesla Motors (TSLA 3.33%) CEO Elon Musk has something important to say on Tuesday, or so his Twitter account says.
"Really exciting @TeslaMotors announcement coming," Musk tweeted last week. "Am going to put my money where my mouth is in v major way."
He later clarified that the announcement will be made on Tuesday.
This may be merely Musk increasing his stake in the company or helping the company pay down its debt. However, the shares did move higher on the tease. Let's see what Tuesday brings shareholders of the company behind the coolest plug-in electric vehicles on the market.
April 5
There have been rumors of a Facebook (FB 2.15%) smartphone for ages, but the leading social-networking website may have something better up its sleeves. The website with more than a billion unique monthly visitors has scheduled a media even for Friday.
"Come See Our New Home on Android," reads the invitation.
No one is expecting an actual Facebook smartphone. The likely takeaway here will be tools to make Facebook more integrated into Android smartphones. At a time when Android devices have the market cornered when it comes to smartphones, it certainly makes sense for Facebook to give those phone owners easier access to the social hub.
April 16
Samsung tantalized the wireless market by unveiling its bar-raising Galaxy S4 device in March, and details were just solidified on pricing and pre-order availability.
Samsung, now the world's largest smartphone manufacturer, will have its S4 available domestically starting at $250 with a two-year contract. Pre-orders will start on April 16. The launch date is likely to be a couple of weeks later.
April 18
Microsoft (MSFT 1.92%) and Google (GOOG 2.00%) report their latest quarterly results on the same day. It should be interesting, to say the least.
Microsoft and Google appear to be passing ships. Mr. Softy is the old guard, champion of the Windows operating system at a time when PC sales have hit a wall. Google's the company behind the open-source Android platform that's the mobile operating system of choice on a majority of the smartphones and tablets in the world.
It may come as a surprise to learn that Microsoft is still growing. Despite lackluster demand for Windows 8 PCs, Surface tablets, and even Xbox 360s, analysts see a strong quarter out of Microsoft, with revenue and profitability soaring 19% and 28%, respectively. Google's earnings, meanwhile, are expected to grow substantially more slowly for the period.
You didn't see that coming? Well, let's see what both companies ultimately deliver in a couple of weeks.
April 23
Netflix (NFLX +0.09%) has historically reported during the fourth week of April, serving up its first-quarter results between April 21 and April 25 in each of the past six years. April 23 is a ballpark estimate for when the leading video service will report.
It's going to be an important presentation. Shares of Netflix have more than tripled since bottoming out this past summer, and analysts have been jacking up their profit and revenue targets.
Netflix's ability to turn a healthy profit despite incurring losses in its costly international expansion efforts is impressive, but after seeing shares rally this high, it's going to take a monster report to keep the good times coming.
