A torrent of big-name earnings hit the stock market this week — and the majority did not live up to analysts’ muted expectations. Of the S & P 500 companies that have reported so far, about 74% of companies have beaten earnings expectations . But their blended earnings growth rate, which includes the reports already out and estimates for those on the docket, is 3.4%, falling short of the 4.2% estimate. The growth rate of just the companies that have posted so far is 3.1%, according to FactSet. Aside from electric vehicle maker Tesla , tobacco company Philip Morris and cloud-based IT service manager ServiceNow , this week was especially rough for most of the approximately 110 companies that posted earnings. Of the 20 largest companies that reported, shares of 13 ended in the red. Take a look at how they fared below: Disappointing earnings this week, by and large, put an even greater burden on the remaining companies that have yet to post their quarterly results, especially as investors eye megacap technology and semiconductor companies set to report next week. Some investors think equity market momentum could slow if next week’s earnings fail to meet expectations, particularly given the market’s concentration in tech. Here’s a Tech Zone Daily Pro earnings guide for what to expect from the ” Magnificent Seven ” stocks going into their earnings. “Earnings really do have to validate here, and it needs to be a broader range of earnings contributing because I don’t think that the Mag 7 really can keep up with their expectations … they have huge earnings hurdles and we’re already seeing that cool on a growth rate basis,” said Phillip Colmar, managing partner and global strategist at MRB Partners. “The sweet spot here is that the big tech companies have either a positive result, or can at least kind of hang on to their expectations, because they’re a big weight.” A strong performance from the financial sector would be a boon for the market as well, Colmar added, noting that it is still early innings for corporate earnings and reports have been decent so far. “You need to have a broad range of other companies lifting up that optimism or keeping it alive. The market’s in for some shopping period here because of that,” Colmar said. Tech stocks buoyed the market on Friday ahead of their looming earnings reports, lifting the Nasdaq Composite to a record high. The S & P 500 and 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the week lower.
