Why Meta and Apple Have Been Rallying, Unlike Microsoft and Google

Get ready. We’re about to endure three days of earnings reports from five of the six biggest companies in tech—not including Nvidia, which doesn’t report earnings until Nov. 20. What makes these updates more interesting than usual is that investors appear to have wildly varying views of these companies right now, at least judging by their recent stock performances.

Shares of Microsoft and Alphabet both peaked in early July and since then both have fallen, by 8.6% and 12% respectively. The opposite is true for Apple and Meta Platforms. In fact, Apple today closed about 1% below its year-high set a few days ago, while Meta is trading 3% below its 2024-high set early this month. (See the accompany chart.) And there’s no one-size-fits-all explanation.