Google Sets The Bar High For Apple & Microsoft

Google is all the talk of the financial outlets with Apple reporting on Tuesday after the close tech stocks are all the range. Last week the NASDAQ soared to record highs. After the close on Friday eBay and PayPal became two separate companies. Wall Street last week had their best week in months, with the NASDAQ making an especially strong showing on the back of renewed interest in tech stocks.

Google alone had one of the single best days any company has ever had on Wall Street, with its earnings report, and apparent new found thriftiness, sparking a

buying frenzy that saw the company add $65 billion to its market cap in a single trading session. Overall it appears that traders are just happy to have the twin nightmares of China and Greece off their backs, even if the issues in both locales that got everybody so flummoxed have been merely papered over. All the new found enthusiasm for U.S. equities, the Dow is up just 1.3%, and the S&P 500′s up 3.3% on the year. Traders this week will have their hands full with an earnings calendar that includes Apple, 3M, Visa, Microsoft, Chipotle, Boeing, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Caterpillar, and hundreds of others.

The big news this week will be Apple which is scheduled to reveal its fiscal third-quarter results on Tuesday. The consensus estimates call for $1.80 in EPS, as well as $49.22 billion in revenue.

This remains the world’s biggest and boldest technology company. Apple has stayed in the limelight with the release of the Apple Watch, and while not generating the kind of in-store mania the iPhone 6 release did, reports indicate that 2.5 million orders for the new wearable device were taken by the company in the United States alone, and the number continues to grow. Many Wall Street analysts recommended staying long the stock into second-quarter earnings. They see strong continued iPhone 6 sales and numerous catalysts on the horizon. The company is also widening its lead over Google in the app marketplace.

Also in the tech sector Microsoft will follow just on the heels of Apple.  The consensus analyst estimates call for $0.56 in EPS and revenue of $22.05 billion. The personal computer (PC) business, under siege for so long because of the rise of smartphone use, took another hit, according to industry research firm IDC, as global PC sales during the second quarter fell 11.7% from the same quarter in 2014. If the erosion continues, the world’s largest manufacturers will need to reassess their businesses. The launch of new versions of Microsoft’s Windows generally lifts PC sales. However, the most recent version of Windows was not popular with consumers. The turn toward smartphones is relentless, and it has to sharply undermine the PC industry.