On October 20-22, by the banks of Shanghai's Huangpu River, the 2026 Sustainable Global Leaders Conference will return. Nobel and Turing Award winners will take the stage to discuss the future and trends of technology, and there will also be a live dialogue between internet-famous professors who "rescue" people from anxiety and the era of intense competition — Macfarlane and Xiang Biao!
Limited spots available, first come first served. Let us all embark together on the journey toward sustainability! [Click to register] The tech stock earnings season has begun again. This time, however, there is a small change: Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) is moving first, set to report its September-quarter earnings on Wednesday, one week ahead of other large tech companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. (Apple's earnings date is even later, scheduled for November 2.) By reporting earlier than its peers, regardless of whether the results are good or bad, Meta is bound to attract more market attention. Before last week's stock selloff, thanks to market buzz around its Muse personal smart assistant and the newly launched MuseWonderAI model, Meta had remained a hot topic on Wall Street. But the situation changed abruptly last week, especially on Friday, when the market once again grew worried about the risks brought by AI expansion, causing most tech stocks to fall sharply. Given Meta's massive investment in AI research and development, this week's earnings update will once again test investor confidence in Meta stock.
Meta's digital advertising business is showing strong momentum. In the first half of this year, its advertising revenue grew 30%, twice the growth rate of Google — an impressive performance for a company of Meta's size (second-quarter advertising revenue was $59 billion). There is no doubt that AI-optimized targeting and creative tools are empowering the advertising business. On the second-quarter earnings call, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said that 9 million small businesses have used at least one of Meta's AI advertising creative tools to produce ads. The company expects overall growth to slow slightly in the third quarter, with the upper end of its guidance range at 25%, compared with 28% growth in the second quarter. But most investors may not be overly concerned about revenue growth. They are more focused on Meta's capital expenditure. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, analysts expect the company's capital expenditure this quarter to reach $40.5 billion, double the year-ago level; estimated free cash flow is expected to turn negative at $10.3 billion. By comparison, Meta's free cash flow in last year's third quarter was $10.6 billion. Analysts predict this is only the beginning of multiple consecutive quarters of negative free cash flow. As of June 30, Meta held $90 billion in cash and marketable securities (partly thanks to recent bond issuance), giving it a substantial financial buffer and allowing it to withstand cash burn for quite a long time. But the company will most likely still need to continue raising funds eventually, either by issuing more debt or by issuing additional equity. If Meta can maintain investor goodwill, equity financing is possible.
Tesla Motors (TSLA) is also reporting earnings on Wednesday, Elon Musk's second-largest listed company (market value of $1.4 trillion, about $600 billion lower than SpaceX). Expectations for this quarter's performance are not optimistic, at least compared with the second quarter; Tesla's revenue growth in the second quarter had reached 26%. Tesla's performance this quarter will face a difficult year-over-year comparison base: in the same period last year, the U.S. federal electric vehicle tax credit expired, temporarily boosting Tesla sales and breaking the weak trend of several previous quarters. Tesla has disclosed that third-quarter deliveries fell 2% compared with the same period in 2025, and analysts expect revenue to rise only slightly by 0.6%. At present, investors pay limited attention to Tesla's sales data. The narrative Musk is conveying to his loyal followers is that Tesla is transforming, and its main business will be humanoid robots and robotaxis. However, the upcoming debut of the new Roadster sports car on Thursday also gives long-time car customers something to look forward to. The waiting period is just long — the Roadster will not enter production until 2028. But the core factor weighing on Tesla's stock price is the possibility of a merger between Tesla and SpaceX. Musk has repeatedly hinted at this, and this week's earnings call may release more related information.
Netflix (NFLX) is scheduled to report third-quarter results on Tuesday. Recent layoffs at the company and the sudden departure of Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria last weekend have further increased the importance of this earnings report. Her successor is Peter Rice, an executive who previously worked at Disney and Fox. Both the layoffs and the appointment of Rice show that Netflix has become deeply integrated into mainstream Hollywood, which also means its growth is no longer as rapid as in its early years. Netflix is expected to report third-quarter revenue growth of 11.7%, down 4.5 percentage points from the first quarter. Investors realize the company has entered a mature phase, which is also a major reason its stock price has weakened throughout the year. Despite the continued decline (the stock is down 25% year to date), Netflix's valuation still carries a significant premium compared with competitors such as Disney: Netflix's forward revenue multiple is 5.6 times, while Disney's is only 2.2 times. Unless Netflix finds a new growth engine, its valuation is likely to continue falling.
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