Financial Reporting Season for the 3.6 Trillion Giant: A Profitability Test Amidst the AI Arms Race

According to Woofun AI, on Tuesday and Wednesday, Meta (META.US), Tesla (TSLA.US), Netflix (NFLX.US), and SpaceX (SPCX.US) will release their quarterly financial reports. These four Nasdaq giants have a combined valuation of approximately $3.6 trillion, and recently their stock prices have been driven more by expectations than by actual performance exceeding forecasts.

Woofun AI data shows that Meta plans to invest $130 billion to $145 billion in equipment and data center construction by 2026. After relevant second-quarter expenditures reached $31.1 billion, its free cash flow was only $784 million. With profits falling short of expectations, its stock price dropped more than 7% after hours.

Additionally, Meta expects to bear approximately $10 billion in litigation expenses this quarter, stemming from a settlement agreement of up to $18 billion. SpaceX's second-quarter expenditures were $18.4 billion, of which $15.8 billion was directed to the artificial intelligence sector. The company's deficit was $541 million, but CFO Brett Johnson noted that after adjustments, AI operations yielded $1.1 billion in profits, most of which went to NVIDIA (NVDA.US). The company also expects capital expenditures in upcoming quarters to remain at similar levels to the second quarter.

Tesla delivered 486,532 vehicles in the third quarter, exceeding the market's expectation of about 462,000. However, its second-quarter earnings per share were $0.33, lower than the market's expectation of $0.51 and last year's $0.40 for the same period, indicating significant pressure on profit margins. Elon Musk stated that SpaceX expects to achieve annual recurring revenue of more than $100 billion in December this year, which is crucial to making progress towards the target set in August. Netflix faces different challenges, guiding third-quarter revenue at $12.86 billion and 2026 full-year revenue guidance at $51 billion to $51.4 billion, with ad revenue around $3 billion. Despite good financial reports from bank stocks last week, they did not rise; Jim Cramer pointed out this contradiction, and companies reinvesting heavily in AI may face similar market reactions this week.