(Reuters) – Disappointing earnings from Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc and Amazon.com on Thursday renewed concerns of a slowdown in demand as consumers and businesses remain cautious about spending amid rising economic uncertainty.
The tech industry has already laid off thousands of employees in an effort to cut costs as they brace for an impending slowdown.
The following graphics highlight the companies’ shaky performance in key areas:
WEAK IPHONE SALES
The world’s largest publicly traded company’s quarterly profit missed Wall Street expectations for the first time since 2016 as it struggled with disruptions to iPhone production in China.
“Apple’s results are consistent with the broader technology-sector challenges, with a difficult macroeconomic environment slowing sales for digital advertising, e-commerce, and (as reflected by Apple’s performance) consumer electronics,” said D.A Davidson analyst Thomas Forte.
Apple’s iPhone sales fall for the first time since 2020 https://www.reuters.com/graphics/APPLE-RESULTS/lbpggbbkbpq/chart.png
DIGITAL ADVERTISING SLUMP
The parent company of digital advertising giant Google also missed earnings expectations as businesses dialed back spending on fears of a possible recession.
“If a dominant ad player like Google can get hit like this, it is now officially a tough ad market,” said Rosenblatt Securities analyst Barton Crockett.
Google’s ad sales growth in the last 2 years https://www.reuters.com/graphics/GOOGLE-ADVERTISING/egpbyaobavq/chart_eikon.jpg
SLOW CLOUD GROWTH
Amazon’s revenue beat for the holiday quarter was largely overshadowed by a warning from the e-commerce giant that its lucrative cloud business was set for slower growth in the next few quarters.
“This year is likely to be a difficult year for AWS growth. One of the key advantages of AWS – that it is easy to flex spending upwards – is also one of its key disadvantages when the economy slows down,” said Atlantic Equities analyst James Cordwell.
Amazon’s cloud growth in the last two years https://www.reuters.com/graphics/AMAZON-AWS/gdvzqdmbopw/chart.png
POST-EARNINGS STOCK REACTION
Shares of the three companies – all of which have market valuations of more than a trillion dollars – were down between 2.2% and 4.5%. The stock slump also dragged the wider market lower.
Here is how the stocks have reacted after every quarterly earnings report in 2022:
Big tech stock reaction after quarterly results over the past
year https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-STOCKS/BIGTECH/lbpggblyrpq/chart.png
(Reporting by Akash Sriram, Tiyashi Datta and Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
