Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Leveraged Tech ETFs to Cash in on Upbeat Big Tech Earnings

Read MoreHide Full Article

The broader market was edgy as investors waited with bated breath for big tech earnings releases. However, the tech-heavy Nasdaq led the equity gauges to log decent gains after hours on Apr 25, as upbeat earnings from tech giants Alphabet Inc. (GOOG - Free Report) and Microsoft Corporation (MSFT - Free Report) boosted investors’ confidence.

Alphabet added about 1.5% post earnings release, while Microsoft jumped 8.5%. Meta Platforms Inc. (META - Free Report) , which is scheduled to report today, also added more than 2% in afterhours on Apr 25, taking cues from Google and Microsoft’s success.

Microsoft has reported fiscal Q3 results with typical beats on both top and bottom lines. Earnings of $2.45 per share is notably above the Zacks Consensus Estimate and the year-ago reported figure of $2.22, while revenues of $52.86 billion surpassed the estimate of $50.95 billion. The software giant missed on earnings only once in the past five years.

The Azure revenue growth came roughly in line with expectations at 27% (though this points to a notable deceleration within the company’s cloud-based business overall). Microsoft was in the news during the quarter for its consistent release of new products and features that incorporated OpenAI's NLP technologies, such as GPT-4. These integrations spanned various services, including Microsoft 365, Bing, Dynamics, GitHub, and security.

The global PC shipment slowdown is playing a spoilsport. With a 28% decline in Windows OEM revenues (from PC manufacturers paying Microsoft to put Windows on their devices) and a 30% downfall in Devices, which includes Surface tablets and computers. Xbox hardware revenues fell 30%.

Google parent Alphabet also outperformed expectations on both earnings and sales in its Q1 report after the close. Earnings of $1.17 per share breezed past the $1.06 analysts were looking for. Still, the reported earnings fail to reach to the level of $1.23 per share the company reported a year ago. Revenues, subtracting traffic acquisition costs (TAC), came in at $58.07 billion for the quarter, better than the $57.20 billion expected (GOOGL reported $69.8 billion, without TAC removed).

In its first profitable quarter in its cloud space, revenues came in at slightly shy of estimates. The segment reported $7.45 billion in revenues versus $7.49 billion expected. YouTube was slightly stronger than expected in the quarter, $6.7 billion versus the $6.6 billion estimated. The company also announced a massive $70 billion share buyback.

ETF Investment Strategy

Against this backdrop, we highlight a few leveraged tech ETFs or tech-heavy Nasdaq ETFs that could fetch you smart gains. Investors should note that these leveraged products are extremely volatile and suitable only for short-term traders. Additionally, the daily rebalancing — when combined with leverage — may make these products deviate significantly from the expected long-term performance figures.

ProShares UltraPro QQQ (TQQQ - Free Report) – Up 3.5% afterhours on Apr 25

Direxion Daily Technology Bull 3X Shares (TECL - Free Report) – Up 6% afterhours on Apr 25

MicroSectors FANG+ Index 3X Leveraged ETN (FNGU - Free Report) – Up 8.3% afterhours on Apr 25

Published in