NEW YORK, April 29, 2026, 05:03 EDT
- Wednesday’s Big Tech earnings will show if all that AI investment is driving gains in cloud and advertising.
- Visa, T-Mobile, FICO, NXP, Corning, and Starbucks have all landed on Q2 growth watchlists after posting their latest results.
- The risks stick out—high capex, oil-fueled inflation, tariffs, margin pressure. Any of these could derail the trade.
Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta are set to report before the bell Wednesday, and that’s where the Q2 2026 growth focus lands. Visa, T-Mobile, FICO, NXP, Corning, and Starbucks numbers are already on the table for investors to chew over. On Tuesday, tech stocks took another hit—fresh worries over AI spending dragged the Nasdaq down 0.90%, the S&P 500 slipped 0.49%, and the Dow edged lower by 0.05%.
Earnings season is entering the show-me phase. According to Reuters, AI capex—capital poured into chips and data centers—is on track to hit nearly $600 billion this year at Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon. Now, the question for investors: is all that spending moving the needle on cloud revenue, ad sales and cash flow, or just padding the expense line?
Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta top the Q2 growth list—not because earnings are out, but because Wall Street’s bracing for their numbers. According to Reuters (citing Visible Alpha and LSEG), AWS is on track for 25% growth, Azure for 40%, and Google Cloud an eye-catching 50.1%. Meta could see sales climb 31%. For Joe Maginot at Madison Investments, the question on the table: “what’s the return” on all this AI spending? Reuters
Visa turned in a straightforward set of numbers. Net revenue for the fiscal second quarter climbed 17% to $11.2 billion. Total processed transactions were up 9%, cross-border volume grew 12%, and the board signed off on a fresh $20 billion buyback. CEO Ryan McInerney called consumer spending “remained resilient”—a brief but telling comment on household demand. Visa Investor Relations
T-Mobile grabbed a spot on the list after bumping up its 2026 outlook. Postpaid net account additions came in at 217,000 for the first quarter, up 6%. Service revenue jumped 11%, landing at $18.8 billion. The company now targets 950,000 to 1.05 million postpaid net account additions for this year—previously, it aimed for 900,000 to 1.0 million. “Strong start to the year,” CEO Srini Gopalan said. t-mobile.com
FICO posted some of the heftiest gains this quarter. Revenue in the fiscal second quarter jumped 39% to $691.7 million. GAAP EPS climbed to $11.14, up from $6.59 a year ago. The company bumped up its outlook for fiscal 2026 revenue, now targeting $2.45 billion instead of $2.35 billion. CEO Will Lansing highlighted “strong revenue and earnings growth.” FICO
NXP Semiconductors stands out with numbers, not just AI buzz. First-quarter revenue hit $3.18 billion, a 12% increase. For the second quarter, management set guidance at a $3.45 billion midpoint—pointing to 18% year-over-year growth. CEO Rafael Sotomayor pointed to strong demand from industrial and auto sectors, especially around software-defined vehicles and what he calls “physical AI”—AI embedded directly inside machines, robots, and factory systems. investors.nxp.com
Corning isn’t making chips, but it’s riding the AI wave anyway, supplying the optical links that keep data centers humming. For the first quarter, core sales climbed 18% and core EPS jumped 30%. Looking ahead, Corning expects second-quarter core sales to hit around $4.6 billion, a 14% gain, while core EPS should increase about 25%. CEO Wendell Weeks mentioned the company has now secured two hyperscaler agreements on par with its recent multiyear Meta deal.
Starbucks pops up as the turnaround play here. The company posted a 6.2% gain in global comparable store sales for its fiscal Q2, with net revenue climbing 9% to $9.5 billion. Starbucks also bumped up its outlook for comparable sales growth and non-GAAP EPS for fiscal 2026. CFO Cathy Smith flagged that rising sales are beginning to trickle into margins, although North American margins still need watching.
The risk here: investors have already baked in plenty of optimism for these growth plays. If Big Tech can’t squeeze returns out of its AI bets, expect the first hits on Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta—suppliers like NXP and Corning won’t escape either. Oil prices grinding higher and a Fed still wary on rates could keep financial conditions tight. Starbucks is still stuck with labor, tariff and coffee-cost headaches, while T-Mobile keeps working through UScellular costs.
So for Q2, the screen spits out these ten: MSFT, GOOGL, AMZN, META, V, TMUS, FICO, NXPI, GLW, and SBUX. What ties these together isn’t a bargain price tag. It’s whether recent numbers—or a near-term trial—will show that top-line gains still outpace the price of chasing them.
