This post was first sent to Hudson Labs clients on January 28th, 2025.
It’s the busiest week of the earnings season, so we used the Co-Analyst to put together this earnings call preview for you. Follow us on Twitter for more live coverage.
Apple's exposure to China
Last week, Bloomberg reported findings from Counterpoint Research showing that Apple’s sales fell by 18.2% in China during the last quarter. Apple’s revenue in China has been falling over the past year, though Apple has reiterated optimism about China over the long term, citing increases in iPhone sales in Mainland China.
Search term: China exposure | Instructions: get all qualitative details
Meta's capital expenditure
Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg said last week that the company is planning to increase capital spending to $65B in 2025, betting heavily on AI. This is significantly higher than the guided capital expenditure for 2024 (see below) and analysts’ expectations. We’ll be looking out for any details on how much revenue they expect to generate from this higher AI expenditure.
Search term: capital expenditure guidance | Instruction: include column for transcript date
Microsoft's AI revenue and expenditure
MSFT is already monetizing AI, reporting increasing AI contribution to Azure’s growth. Analysts will now be watching for signs that AI revenue growth can exceed expenditure growth in the near future. Otherwise, the increasing capital expenditure may become a drag on the tech giant’s stock price.
Search term: AI revenue and expenditure commentary X% $Y
Tesla's vehicle deliveries
TSLA has refrained from giving clear guidance on vehicle deliveries in recent earnings calls, but earlier this month TSLA confirmed that their vehicle deliveries for the year 2024 were lower than the previous year, a first in the company’s history. Not sure that’s really what Musk meant by “record deliveries” in the last earnings call.
Analysts will also be keen to get more details on Musk’s guidance in the last earnings call of “20% to 30% vehicle growth next year” and an affordable model launch in the first half of 2025.
Search term: vehicle deliveries and commentary
Starbucks' revenue growth
Outside of tech, Starbucks and Caterpillar will also be reporting earnings this week. SBUX is also hurting after a large decline in revenue in China reported in Q2 and Q3 2024 earnings calls. In the July 2024 earnings call, the (now former) CEO also mentioned that “[h]eadwinds persist in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, parts of Europe, driven by widely discussed misperceptions about our brand.” Can the new CEO and a new China Chief Growth Officer turn things around?
Search query: revenue growth year or year and commentary
Caterpillar facing headwinds
Caterpillar is also facing some strong headwinds, with declining sales and increased competition, particularly in North America, which is its largest market.
Search query: headwinds
