Time to Buy Microsoft or Meta Stock as Earnings Approach?

Meta Platforms META and Microsoft MSFT will kick off a much-anticipated week of quarterly results from big tech firms with their reports rolling out after-market hours on Wednesday, April 30.

Crucial to a potential turnaround among the broader indexes, Meta and Microsoft stock are down over 6% in 2025, respectively. That said, both have outperformed the market’s returns over the last three years, with META soaring +174% and MSFT up a very respectable +41%.

Meta Platforms Q1 Expectations

Although Meta could be affected by higher tariffs on Chinese imports, its Q1 sales are expected to be up 13% to $41.22 billion compared to $36.46 billion a year ago. That said, Wall Street will be looking for insight on how U.S.-China trade tensions are affecting advertising spend from Chinese companies like Temu and Shein, which are among Meta’s biggest advertisers on Facebook and Instagram.

Optimistically, Meta’s Q1 EPS is thought to have increased 10% to $5.21 versus $4.71 a share in the prior year quarter. Meta has exceeded the Zacks EPS Consensus for nine consecutive quarters with an average earnings surprise of 13.77% in its last four quarterly reports.  

Microsoft’s Q3 Expectations

Reporting results for its fiscal third quarter, Microsoft’s Q3 sales are slated to rise 10% to $68.38 billion versus $61.86 billion in the comparative quarter. However, Microsoft’s outlook will be under a scope as the tech giant has faced challenges related to higher tariffs on technology equipment and components, and recently cancelled a $1 billion data center project in Ohio because of such.

Still, Microsoft’s Q3 EPS is expected to be up 9% to $3.20 from $2.94 in the prior period. Microsoft has exceeded earnings expectations for 10 consecutive quarters with an average EPS surprise of 4.34% in its last four quarterly reports.

Tracking Meta & Microsoft’s Outlook

Based on Zacks' estimates, Meta’s total sales are currently projected to rise 12% in fiscal 2025 and are forecasted to spike another 13% in FY26 to $208.4 billion. Annual earnings are expected to rise 1% this year and are projected to spike 13% in FY26 to a whopping $27.38 per share.

Pivoting to Microsoft, its top line is expected to expand over 12% in FY25 and FY26, with projections edging north of $300 billion. Microsoft’s annual earnings are projected to rise 10% in FY25 and are forecasted to soar another 13% in FY26 to $14.60 per share.

Bottom Line

Meta Platforms and Microsoft stock land a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). To that point, their quarterly results and any guidance they can offer will need to reconfirm the favorable growth trajectories of these tech giants, which hopefully won’t be overly altered by higher tariffs.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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