Here's what to look for when the Club's 5 tech holdings report this week

Published Mon, Oct 24 20225:13 PM EDTUpdated Mon, Oct 24 20225:24 PM EDT

The world's biggest tech companies will be put under the microscope this week when they report earnings for the quarter ended Sept. 30. Club holdings Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL), Meta Platforms (META), Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) have all been bogged down by inflation, weaker consumer demand and a slowing global economy. But despite these macroeconomic headwinds, which could dent earnings, the Club remains confident in the fundamentals of these companies and a long-term investor in each. Here's what to expect when all 5 tech holdings report. Microsoft (MSFT) When Microsoft reports fiscal 2023 first-quarter earnings on Tuesday after the closing bell, investors and analysts will be looking at the impact of weaker demand for personal computers (PC) and a strong U.S. dollar. Analysts expect earnings-per-share to come in at $2.30, up 1.3% from last year, while total revenue should climb 9.5% year-on-year, to $49.61 billion, according to estimates from Refinitiv. Despite persistent PC headwinds , Goldman Sachs said in a recent research note that it still expects "sustained commercial demand" to support Microsoft's Windows OEM (original equipment manufacturer) revenue last quarter. At the same time, Goldman analysts predicted Microsoft's enterprise cloud computing business, Azure, would remain competitive, with 38% year-over-year growth. Meanwhile, a surging U.S. dollar — the U.S. currency has risen more than 16% against a basket of other major currencies since the start of the year — has made Microsoft's offerings more expensive to international customers. But management's ability to manage expenses could "offset more pronounced margins/earnings impact" from FX headwinds in the latest quarter, according to Goldman. The Club take: PC and strong dollar headwinds for Microsoft won't come as a surprise, but we'll be looking for how these factors impact company guidance. We also anticipate durable Azure strength that could somewhat offset the PC and dollar challenges, but still question how resilient this growth rate is, as enterprise spending tightens in a slowing economy. Alphabet (GOOGL) Profit margin preservation, advertising business performance and stagnating cloud growth will all be top of mind for analy