It’s true with all the great games of strategy: one well-placed move can change the whole board. And right now, tech investors are looking for that one sweet turn. 

This week, Meta, Microsoft, Tesla, and Apple will show their hands as they deliver quarterly updates. And with their recent moves seeming anything but “magnificent”, the stakes are especially high. Together, this quartet accounts for about 16% of the S&P 500, which means their results can have a huge impact. 

All four stocks are down so far this year. Investors have been turning away from US behemoth tech stocks and into smaller and mid-sized companies, encouraged by seemingly sturdy economic growth and lower interest rates. Energy, metals, and mining companies have been grabbing the spotlight – leaving Big Tech a little out of position. 

Meta and Microsoft have felt the shift more than the rest. Both are trading at least 18% below last year’s record highs, pulling valuations down toward the lower end of their recent ranges. You can bet that’s grabbed investors’ attention – but now they’ll be looking for signs that these companies’ enormous AI outlays might finally be starting to make financial sense. After all, big spending is one thing; proving it delivers real returns is another. 

Apple, meanwhile, is playing its own game. Rather than sinking billions into its own AI models, it’s partnered up with Google’s Gemini to launch an AI-powered Siri. Still, its share price is also down double digits from last year’s peak, as concerns pile up about potential margin pressure from rising memory prices. Those costs won’t show up in last quarter’s numbers, thanks to some long-term supply contracts, but they’re sure to hit somewhere down the line. For now, the focus will be on sales, with revenue expected to land around $137.4 billion, up roughly 11% from last year, driven by a rebound in iPhone growth. 

That leaves Tesla. The EV maker’s most recent sales numbers probably won’t steal the show – but that’s not really what investors are here for. They’re really focusing on its next big things: the long-awaited robotaxi rollout (which just launched in Austin without a human safety monitor), and the bigger, bolder Optimus project. Tesla’s Elon Musk said last week that the humanoid robot could be on sale to the public by the end of next year – and if that’s even close to true, it’ll end up mattering far more than last quarter’s earnings.