MU

We are off to a strong start this Q2 earnings season, which accelerates significantly this week as more than 300 companies report results—including 85 S&P 500 members. This week’s lineup offers a highly representative cross-section of the market, featuring key players from all sectors alongside two prominent "Magnificent Seven" members: Tesla and Alphabet. By Friday, we will have a much clearer picture of corporate health, with results in from more than a quarter of the entire index. The picture emerging from early results is one of continued strength and solid momentum. An above-average proportion of companies are beating estimates, while management teams are offering reassuring commentary regarding their outlooks for the current and upcoming periods. Although we are still in the early stages of the Q2 reporting cycle—with results in from roughly 10% of S&P 500 members—the initial data gives us strong confidence that the broader corporate earnings landscape remains highly positive. The chart below gives you a big-picture view of the overall earnings picture. It highlights current Q2 expectations right alongside actual results from the past four quarters and forecasts for the next three. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research As you can see here, total S&P 500 earnings for 2026 Q2 are expected to increase by +25.3% compared to the same period last year on +11.9% higher revenues. Of the 16 Zacks sectors, 11 are expected to have positive earnings growth in Q2, with Energy (earnings growth of +129.5%), Tech (+48.8%), Basic Materials (+45.2%) and Finance (+23.5%) as the major growth drivers. Q2 earnings growth drops to +14.1% from +25.3% once the Tech sector’s substantial contribution is excluded. The +129.5% earnings growth for the Energy sector is meaningful, but aggregate earnings growth would still be +20.7% on an ex-Energy basis. For the Magnificent Seven—two of whose members report this week—total Q2 earnings are expected to increase +28.7% year-over-year on +25.1% higher revenues. While this marks a deceleration from the group’s blistering +48.7% earnings growth (on +25.3% revenue gains) in Q1, their fundamental strength remains a major market driver. Crucially, there is plenty of strength outside of the group: if we exclude the Magnificent Seven entirely, Q2 earnings for the rest of the S&P 500 would still be up a robust +24.3%. The Tech sector has been...

Micron Technology has become a key artificial-intelligence trade bellwether. Now analysts are trying to game out what peak earnings will look like for Micron if the AI cycle continues. A Trivariate Research analyst team, led by Adam Parker, on Thursday called Micron “the most important stock in the market,” writing that shares of the memory-chip maker have become a “proxy for the AI cycle and risk-taking.”

Nearly 700 miles from Silicon Valley, in the arid foothills of Boise, Idaho, you’ll find the headquarters of Micron Technology (MU), a global manufacturer of semiconductor chips and one of the world’s leading technology companies. It's also nearly 2,500 miles from Wall Street. Yet despite its remote location, Micron has become one of the market's biggest AI winners. Shares skyrocketed more than 680% from July 2025 to July 2026 amid explosive demand for the company’s high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which are a critical component in AI infrastructure. But unlike other technology giants, such as Apple (AAPL) and Alphabet (GOOG), Micron didn't grow up in Silicon Valley. Instead, the company built one of the semiconductor industry's biggest success stories from an unlikely corner of the American West. Here's a closer look at the chipmaker's Boise HQ. The company's Idaho roots aren't an accident. Micron Technology was founded in 1978 by a team of semiconductor engineers — Ward Parkinson, Dennis Wilson, and Doug Pitman — who found themselves without jobs when their contract with Mostek Corp. was unexpectedly canceled. So they teamed up with Ward’s brother, Joe Parkinson, a corporate lawyer, to build their own semiconductor firm from scratch. They started out designing Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) chips for other companies. In 1980, they were introduced to Boise billionaire JR Simplot, who had made a fortune selling frozen French fries to McDonald's. Simplot was impressed by the team’s dedication to producing faster DRAM chips than anyone else. He was even more bowled over by computer technology. Simplot believed the computer industry was on the cusp of a revolution, and one day, while driving his Lincoln from his potato fields to the clean rooms at Micron, he prophesied that PCs were going to be "bigger than the goddamned wheel." Related: Micron Technology’s stock buybacks explained Simplot invested $1 million in the fledgling company, which gave Micron the capital it needed to move beyond consulting and begin manufacturing its own memory chips at scale. Just six years later, in 1984, the company went public at $13 per share. What began as a startup eventually became one of the world's most valuable semiconductor companies, surpassing a $1 trillion market capitalization on May 26, 2026. Unlike the headquarters of Meta Platforms (META), which has Frank Geh...

Chicago, IL – July 16, 2026– Zacks Director of Research Sheraz Mian says, "Excluding Micron, Q2 earnings for the remaining 33 index members that have reported Q2 results would be up +21.5% (vs. +55.3% otherwise) on +12.5% higher revenues (vs. +18.8% otherwise)." Note: The following is an excerpt from this week'sEarnings Trends report. You can access the full report that contains detailed historical actual and estimates for the current and following periods, please click here>>> Here are the key points: The big banks have kicked off the Q2 earnings season with remarkable momentum. Both earnings and revenue growth rates—along with the percentage of companies beating expectations—are tracking significantly higher than in recent quarters. While we are still in the opening stages of the Q2 reporting cycle, these early results strongly reinforce the robust corporate earnings trend we've been seeing. For the 34 S&P 500 companies that have reported Q2 results already, total earnings are up +55.3% from the same period last year on +18.8% higher revenues, with 91.2% beating EPS estimates and 82.4% beating revenue estimates. The Q2 earnings and revenue growth rates have been boosted by Micron's MU very strong quarterly results, but the earnings and revenue growth rates would still compare favorably with other recent periods when we exclude Micron from these results. Excluding Micron, Q2 earnings for the remaining 33 index members that have reported Q2 results would be up +21.5% (vs. +55.3% otherwise) on +12.5% higher revenues (vs. +18.8% otherwise). For the Finance sector, we now have Q2 results from 36.6% of the sector's market capitalization in the S&P 500 index. Total earnings for these Finance companies are up +30.2% from the same period last year on +20.4% higher revenues, with all the companies beating EPS estimates and 90.9% beating revenue estimates. This is a notably better performance from these Finance companies relative to what we have seen from the group in other recent periods. The big banks and brokers kicked off the Q2 reporting cycle in style, comfortably beating consensus EPS and revenue estimates and providing reassuring reads on underlying trends in their businesses.JPMorgan's JPM Q2 earnings increased +21.7% from the same period last year on +27.7% higher revenues, while those for Bank of America BAC, Citigroup C and Wells Fargo WFC increased +27.5...

Dow Jones futures: Taiwan Semiconductor and GE Aero fell despite strong earnings as the AI stock sell-off continues.

Note: The following is an excerpt from this week’s Earnings Trends report. You can access the full report that contains detailed historical actual and estimates for the current and following periods, please click here>>> Here are the key points: The big banks have kicked off the Q2 earnings season with remarkable momentum. Both earnings and revenue growth rates—along with the percentage of companies beating expectations—are tracking significantly higher than in recent quarters. While we are still in the opening stages of the Q2 reporting cycle, these early results strongly reinforce the robust corporate earnings trend we've been seeing. For the 34 S&P 500 companies that have reported Q2 results already, total earnings are up +55.3% from the same period last year on +18.8% higher revenues, with 91.2% beating EPS estimates and 82.4% beating revenue estimates. The Q2 earnings and revenue growth rates have been boosted by Micron’s (MU) very strong quarterly results, but the earnings and revenue growth rates would still compare favorably with other recent periods when we exclude Micron from these results. Excluding Micron, Q2 earnings for the remaining 33 index members that have reported Q2 results would be up +21.5% (vs. +55.3% otherwise) on +12.5% higher revenues (vs. +18.8% otherwise). For the Finance sector, we now have Q2 results from 36.6% of the sector’s market capitalization in the S&P 500 index. Total earnings for these Finance companies are up +30.2% from the same period last year on +20.4% higher revenues, with all the companies beating EPS estimates and 90.9% beating revenue estimates. This is a notably better performance from these Finance companies relative to what we have seen from the group in other recent periods. The big banks and brokers kicked off the Q2 reporting cycle in style, comfortably beating consensus EPS and revenue estimates and providing reassuring reads on underlying trends in their businesses. JPMorgan’s JPM Q2 earnings increased +21.7% from the same period last year on +27.7% higher revenues, while those for Bank of America BAC, Citigroup C, and Wells Fargo WFC increased +27.5%, +45.1%, and +18.4%, respectively. Bank stocks in general and these four stocks in particular have enjoyed a decent but otherwise unspectacular run this year, as some of the earlier geopolitical risk factors have eased lately. Banks are cyclical businesses...

A spectacular run for chip makers, server suppliers, and memory and storage names seems to have investors on edge.

ASML stock has surged this year and Wall Street thinks it could raise its sales guidance when it reports earnings Wednesday.

Delta fell on earnings. Memory giant SK Hynix is set for its Nasdaq debut after a huge offering as peers Micron and Sandisk dipped.

Taiwan Semi, Goldman and GE Aerospace are big earnings due with the market improving. Nvidia, Sandisk, Micron, Robinhood are near buy points.

Most of the attention on Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) sits on high-bandwidth memory and the artificial intelligence data center boom. That story is real, but it hides a different shift in how the company sells its products -- a shift that could shape the next earnings report more than any single chip. In the first week of July, Micron announced two strategic customer agreements within six days of each other. A strategic customer agreement is, in plain terms, a promise from a buyer to keep buying. Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue » On July 1, it signed a deal with General Motors to secure a long-term supply of memory for the automaker's next vehicle platforms. On July 6, Micron announced a similar pact with Ford Motor Company. Buried in both press releases is the detail that matters most. Each agreement is described as "one of the 16" discussed on Micron's fiscal third-quarter conference call. So the company has told investors it has a stack of these deals and has started revealing them one at a time. That drumbeat of announcements gives Micron a reason to stay in the news between now and its next report. These are not glamorous AI chips. General Motors is locking in a supply of LPDRAM, NOR, and UFS NAND -- the memory that runs in-cabin screens and driver-assistance systems. Cars carry the kind of memory once reserved for phones and servers, and each model can stay in production for years, so a single win can feed orders long after the deal is signed. What makes the deals valuable is their shape: multiyear commitments tied to Micron's $2 billion modernization of its Manassas, Virginia, fab. Memory has long been a boom-and-bust business, priced like a commodity. Contracts that pin down volume across a car's production life turn some of that swing into something closer to a backlog. For a company investors treat as a cyclical bet, contracted demand is a quiet form of insurance on an investment. None of these agreements discloses price or volume, so the financial impact remains unknown until it shows up in the results. Auto production can soften, and a broad memory downturn would pressure margins. The stock has climbed a long...

Despite a record quarter, Samsung's (005930.KS) preliminary earnings results are causing volatility in the memory sector, just ahead of SK Hynix's (000660.KS) Friday IPO. Yahoo Finance Senior Business Reporter Ines Ferré takes a closer look in the video above.