I'm thrilled to see Apple and Amazon step up to the earnings plate this Thursday, because the market needs a jolt after the AI-fueled Nvidia mania. For me, Apple's report is the real litmus test: iPhone unit sales in China will tell us if the world's biggest consumer market is finally shaking off its post-COVID funk, and the services bundle (App Store, Music, Pay) is the margin rocket that keeps the stock aloft even when hardware stalls. I've been pounding the table on Apple's installed-base monetization for years; if services growth accelerates past 15%, I'll view any share dip as a screaming buy before the iPhone 17 cycle hits in 2026.

Amazon, on the other hand, is the ultimate two-headed beast. AWS remains the profit engine, and I'm laser-focused on whether cloud revenue growth re-accelerates above 20% now that enterprises are done "optimizing" and starting to train again. E-commerce feels like table stakes, but the ad business is the sleeper—every incremental point of take-rate on a trillion-dollar GMV pool drops straight to the bottom line. If logistics costs stay flat sequentially despite peak-season volume, I'll take that as proof the flywheel is spinning faster than the bears admit.

Alphabet's $Alphabet(GOOGL)$   beat last week set a high bar, but I'm not convinced Apple and Amazon are "laggards" just yet. Valuation gaps have compressed: Apple trades at a forward P/E barely above the S&P 500 while carrying a fortress balance sheet and a services moat wider than the Pacific. Amazon's sum-of-the-parts math still screens cheap if you haircut retail to zero and value AWS at 15× sales. I'm not chasing momentum; I'm collecting cash-flow compounders that the market temporarily forgot how to price.

My base case: Apple $Apple(AAPL)$  prints a modest iPhone beat in China and guides services confidently, pushing the stock through $300 by year-end on multiple expansion alone. Amazon $Amazon.com(AMZN)$   surprises with AWS re-acceleration and ad margins, reigniting the growth narrative and closing the gap to its 52-week high. Either outcome gives the Nasdaq the rotation fuel it desperately needs after Nvidia's $5 trillion sprint.

Bottom line—I'm long both names into the print, with dry powder ready for any volatility-induced pullback. The Magnificent Seven isn't a monolith; it's a relay race, and I believe the baton is passing from semiconductors to consumer cloud and services right on cue.

As a retail investor, I focus mainly on the US and Singapore markets, combining a mix of technical trading and long-term investing strategies. I enjoy analyzing charts, spotting patterns, and making calculated moves based on both market sentiment and fundamentals. While I'm not a professional, I treat my portfolio seriously and continue to learn and grow with each trade. If you're also navigating the markets and enjoy discussing stocks, options, or market trends, feel free to follow me. Let's learn and grow together as a community.

@Tiger_comments  @TigerStars