We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience.
This includes personalizing content and advertising.
By pressing "Accept All" or closing out of this banner, you consent to the use of all cookies and similar technologies and the sharing of information they collect with third parties.
You can reject marketing cookies by pressing "Deny Optional," but we still use essential, performance, and functional cookies.
In addition, whether you "Accept All," Deny Optional," click the X or otherwise continue to use the site, you accept our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, revised from time to time.
You are being directed to ZacksTrade, a division of LBMZ Securities and licensed broker-dealer. ZacksTrade and Zacks.com are separate companies. The web link between the two companies is not a solicitation or offer to invest in a particular security or type of security. ZacksTrade does not endorse or adopt any particular investment strategy, any analyst opinion/rating/report or any approach to evaluating individual securities.
If you wish to go to ZacksTrade, click OK. If you do not, click Cancel.
The Enormous Earnings Power of the Mag 7 Companies
Read MoreHide Full Article
Key Takeaways
Six of the Mag Seven companies have reported so far, with just Nvidia's results remaining.
Alphabet has been the standout of the bunch, with its robust results driven by broad-based strength.
Total Q1 earnings for the Mag Seven companies are expected to grow 45.7% YoY on 24.6% higher revenues.
Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) shares were already star performers before the company’s Q1 earnings release on Wednesday, making some of us anxious that the stock might be priced for perfection. But they literally hit it out of the park, with impressive momentum not just in the cloud business but also search, subscriptions, and backlog.
With Alphabet management more than answering the AI monetization question through these record results, the market didn’t lose a beat over further increases in capital expenditures. The company expects to spend in the $180 billion to $190 billion range now, up from the previous guided range of $175 billion to $185 billion.
Amazon’s Q1 results weren’t Alphabet-good, but they were nevertheless very strong, with cloud revenues showing clear acceleration and growing at their fastest pace since 2022 at +28%. The growth pace is expected to pick up further in Q2 and beyond, given new deals with Meta (META - Free Report) , Anthropic, and OpenAI.
Amazon’s 2026 Q1 cloud revenue growth of +28% follows growth rates of +24% and +20% in 2025 Q4 and Q3, respectively. Alphabet’s cloud revenue growth was in a league of its own, up +63%, which follows growth rates of +48% in 2025 Q4 and an estimated +35% to +40% in 2025 Q3. Unlike Alphabet and Amazon, Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) disappointed once again, coming up short in its results and commentary for the third quarter in a row.
The only reason why someone would find fault with Microsoft’s +29% cloud revenue growth is that the company’s growth pace in each of the preceding two quarters was in a comparable range. Microsoft has long noted capacity issues weighing on its cloud growth, which seems plausible since Alphabet also noted this issue.
Microsoft shares have been true laggards in the Mag 7 group, down -14.5% this year vs. Alphabet’s +23.1% rise and the S&P 500 index’s +6.2% gain. The company has been swept up in the software turmoil, so the issue isn’t the stalled cloud unit. Microsoft had also banked heavily on OpenAI for its LLM, and that relationship has unraveled ‘bigly’. It is reasonable to expect that they will eventually get there, after all, they have the resources and people, but it will likely take them a while.
At this stage in the Q1 reporting cycle, Nvidia (NVDA - Free Report) is the only Mag 7 member that has yet to report March-quarter results. Nvidia is scheduled to report Q1 results on May 20th, with EPS and revenues for the period expected to be up +118.5% and +78.7% from the same period last year, respectively.
Combining the actual results for the 6 Magnificent 7 members that have reported already with estimates for Nvidia, total Q1 earnings for the group are expected to be up +45.7% from the same period last year on +24.6% higher revenues, which would follow the group’s +26.1% earnings growth on +19.4% revenue growth in 2025 Q4.
The chart below shows the group’s blended Q1 earnings and revenue growth relative to the preceding period and the expected growth over the next three periods.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The chart below shows the Mag 7 group’s earnings and revenue growth picture on an annual basis.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Please note that the Mag 7 group is on track to bring in 26.2% of all S&P 500 earnings in 2026 and account for 34.1% of the index’s market capitalization.
The Mag 7 group has been enjoying a steadily improving earnings outlook, with analysts raising their estimates. We saw that trend in play ahead of the start of the Q1 earnings season, and something similar is in place for 2026 Q1 as well.
The chart below shows how aggregate earnings estimates for the Mag 7 group have evolved since July 2025.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
2026 Q1 Earnings Season Scorecard
Through Friday, May 1st, we have seen Q1 results from 317 S&P 500 members or 63.4% of the index’s total membership. Total earnings for these 317 index members are up +23.4% from the same period last year on +11.1% higher revenues, with 78.5% beating EPS estimates and 77.9% beating revenue estimates.
We have another very busy week on the reporting front, with more than 1400 companies reporting results, including 127 S&P 500 members. We have a good blend of notable ‘new age’ tech players like Palantir, Uber, Airbnb, DoorDash, and Pinterest, and ‘legacy blue chip’ operators like McDonald's, Disney, and DuPont on deck to report results this week.
The comparison charts below put the growth rates for the companies that have reported with what we had seen from this same group of companies in other recent periods.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The comparison charts below put the Q1 EPS and revenue beats percentages for this group of companies relative to what we had seen from them in other recent periods.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The chart below shows how net margins for the 317 index members that have reported Q1 results compare to other recent periods for this same group of companies.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
For a detailed look at the overall earnings picture, including expectations for the coming periods, please check out our weekly Earnings Trends report >>>>A Strong & Steadily Improving Earnings Picture
Zacks' 7 Best Strong Buy Stocks (New Research Report)
Valued at $99, click below to receive our just-released report
predicting the 7 stocks that will soar highest in the coming month.
Image: Bigstock
The Enormous Earnings Power of the Mag 7 Companies
Key Takeaways
Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) shares were already star performers before the company’s Q1 earnings release on Wednesday, making some of us anxious that the stock might be priced for perfection. But they literally hit it out of the park, with impressive momentum not just in the cloud business but also search, subscriptions, and backlog.
With Alphabet management more than answering the AI monetization question through these record results, the market didn’t lose a beat over further increases in capital expenditures. The company expects to spend in the $180 billion to $190 billion range now, up from the previous guided range of $175 billion to $185 billion.
Amazon’s Q1 results weren’t Alphabet-good, but they were nevertheless very strong, with cloud revenues showing clear acceleration and growing at their fastest pace since 2022 at +28%. The growth pace is expected to pick up further in Q2 and beyond, given new deals with Meta (META - Free Report) , Anthropic, and OpenAI.
Amazon’s 2026 Q1 cloud revenue growth of +28% follows growth rates of +24% and +20% in 2025 Q4 and Q3, respectively. Alphabet’s cloud revenue growth was in a league of its own, up +63%, which follows growth rates of +48% in 2025 Q4 and an estimated +35% to +40% in 2025 Q3. Unlike Alphabet and Amazon, Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) disappointed once again, coming up short in its results and commentary for the third quarter in a row.
The only reason why someone would find fault with Microsoft’s +29% cloud revenue growth is that the company’s growth pace in each of the preceding two quarters was in a comparable range. Microsoft has long noted capacity issues weighing on its cloud growth, which seems plausible since Alphabet also noted this issue.
Microsoft shares have been true laggards in the Mag 7 group, down -14.5% this year vs. Alphabet’s +23.1% rise and the S&P 500 index’s +6.2% gain. The company has been swept up in the software turmoil, so the issue isn’t the stalled cloud unit. Microsoft had also banked heavily on OpenAI for its LLM, and that relationship has unraveled ‘bigly’. It is reasonable to expect that they will eventually get there, after all, they have the resources and people, but it will likely take them a while.
At this stage in the Q1 reporting cycle, Nvidia (NVDA - Free Report) is the only Mag 7 member that has yet to report March-quarter results. Nvidia is scheduled to report Q1 results on May 20th, with EPS and revenues for the period expected to be up +118.5% and +78.7% from the same period last year, respectively.
Combining the actual results for the 6 Magnificent 7 members that have reported already with estimates for Nvidia, total Q1 earnings for the group are expected to be up +45.7% from the same period last year on +24.6% higher revenues, which would follow the group’s +26.1% earnings growth on +19.4% revenue growth in 2025 Q4.
The chart below shows the group’s blended Q1 earnings and revenue growth relative to the preceding period and the expected growth over the next three periods.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The chart below shows the Mag 7 group’s earnings and revenue growth picture on an annual basis.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Please note that the Mag 7 group is on track to bring in 26.2% of all S&P 500 earnings in 2026 and account for 34.1% of the index’s market capitalization.
The Mag 7 group has been enjoying a steadily improving earnings outlook, with analysts raising their estimates. We saw that trend in play ahead of the start of the Q1 earnings season, and something similar is in place for 2026 Q1 as well.
The chart below shows how aggregate earnings estimates for the Mag 7 group have evolved since July 2025.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
2026 Q1 Earnings Season Scorecard
Through Friday, May 1st, we have seen Q1 results from 317 S&P 500 members or 63.4% of the index’s total membership. Total earnings for these 317 index members are up +23.4% from the same period last year on +11.1% higher revenues, with 78.5% beating EPS estimates and 77.9% beating revenue estimates.
We have another very busy week on the reporting front, with more than 1400 companies reporting results, including 127 S&P 500 members. We have a good blend of notable ‘new age’ tech players like Palantir, Uber, Airbnb, DoorDash, and Pinterest, and ‘legacy blue chip’ operators like McDonald's, Disney, and DuPont on deck to report results this week.
The comparison charts below put the growth rates for the companies that have reported with what we had seen from this same group of companies in other recent periods.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The comparison charts below put the Q1 EPS and revenue beats percentages for this group of companies relative to what we had seen from them in other recent periods.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The chart below shows how net margins for the 317 index members that have reported Q1 results compare to other recent periods for this same group of companies.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
For a detailed look at the overall earnings picture, including expectations for the coming periods, please check out our weekly Earnings Trends report >>>>A Strong & Steadily Improving Earnings Picture