A+ for Amazon and Apple earnings

Two of the most consumer-facing members of the Magnificent 7 released earnings last night, and it seems like they're doing pretty swell.

(Noah Berger/Getty Images and Alberto Rodriguez/Getty Images) Presented by Hey Snackers, It seems the ascension of slop bowls has ended, and rather than blame anything amiss at HQ, Chipotle, the maker of burrito bowls, is explaining its earnings miss by pointing the finger at the youth. Its CEO also noted that the company's biggest cohort is "eating out less amid economic uncertainty, inflation, and higher unemployment." The silver lining for Chipotle, we suppose, is at least it isn't Cava, which is getting hit by consumer spending slowing and the US government shutdown. Megacap tech dragged down the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 yesterday as the AI trade was off as investors expressed concerns about Meta's big spending plans. Though the Russell 2000 also fell, it fared slightly better than the benchmark S&P 500 Index and tech-heavy Nasdaq 100. 🎃 Happy Halloween! In the spirit of bobbing for apples, which apple variety is the most produced in the US? Check your answer. MAGNIFICENT Amazon crushes earnings, Apple vs. The World ends with decisive victory for Apple Two of the most consumer-facing members of the Magnificent 7 released earnings last night, and it seems like they're doing pretty swell.  First out of the gate was Amazon, which had a quarter for the record books: The company posted $180.2 billion in sales for Q3, growing 13% from the same quarter a year earlier.  Earnings per share came in at $1.95, blowing past analysts' expectations of $1.57. Amazon's AWS cloud business saw revenue jump 20% year on year to $33 billion, powered by huge demand for AI.  Amazon added 3.8 gigawatts of computing capacity, advertising revenue was up 24% year on year, and subscription revenue was up 11% year on year Meanwhile, down the coast in Cupertino, the numbers out of Apple were less of a bonanza but left Wall Street admiring how it managed to pull off its top-line numbers with the myriad forces working against it. The company's iPhone sales were $49 billion, shy of the analyst consensus forecast of $50.1 billion. China sales were a disappointing $14.5 billion, below analysts' expectation of $15.5 billion. While it's been a laggard in AI, Apple's Services division saw revenue of $28.8 billion, slightly above the Street's $28.2 billion. And despite all that, the company pulled a rabbit out of a hat: revenue for the fourth quarter was $102.5 billion, slightly above the $102.2 billion analysts had predicted. A win is a win! THE TAKEAWAY Amazon gave guidance for fourth-quarter sales between $206 billion and $213 billion, compared with estimates of $208.4 billion. Operating income was forecast at $21 billion to $26 billion, topping Wall Street's expectation of $19.73 billion. As for Apple, its stock was recently propelled above a $4 trillion market cap, in part by leading indicators that suggested iPhone 17 sales were ahead of last year's model. The real test for both then? Ho- Ho- How are they going to do in the winner-take-all holiday season? Read more Presented by Surf Air Mobility Electric aviation meets AI Surf Air Mobility (NYSE: SRFM) is building an AI-enabled operating system for the air mobility industry. SurfOS, its proprietary AI platform, is designed to optimize flights, crews, aircraft, and passenger distribution across Surf Air Mobility's scheduled operations and on-demand service. The platform is also being designed to pave the way for new electrified aircraft to start flying at scale in the future by optimizing regional operations today. With a blue-chip AI software partnership already in place, Surf Air Mobility is making strides towards more efficient, accessible, and sustainable regional air travel.  Discover more about Surf Air Mobility.1 PREMIUMS Most health insurers beat estimates in Q3, but investors have mixed feelings The largest health insurers in the country all reported adjusted earnings per share that beat Wall Street estimates this earnings season, but you wouldn't know it by looking at their stock prices. So what's the issue? Investors remain weary as insurers like UnitedHealth, Cigna, CVS, Elevance Health, and Centene continue to grapple with high costs of medical care, particularly for government-sponsored plans. "Medical cost trends remain historically high, but consistent with our second-quarter guidance, and we expect that to continue throughout the remainder of 2025," UnitedHealth CEO Tim Noel said on the company's earnings call. Medical costs outpaced premiums as members are getting more procedures and taking more expensive drugs, and for government-sponsored plans like Medicaid and Medicare, reimbursement hasn't kept up with those rising medical costs, which is hitting providers like Molina particularly hard. While Molina CEO Joe Zubretsky said he considers the trend in costs as "inclement weather rather than climate change" and expects margins to stabilize in 2026 and recover in the coming years, from everything we've seen in our own experience with the healthcare industry, costs go only one way: up.  THE TAKEAWAY Every major health insurer is down since reporting its third-quarter earnings except for Centene. It seems like Humuna and Oscar Health, which report next week, could suffer the same pessimistic diagnostic from the market.  Read more THE BEST THING WE READ TODAY Meta dove because it isn't Google or Microsoft Three giant tech companies reported earnings Wednesday, all claiming that their record revenue came courtesy of AI. And all said their spending to furnish AI would continue to grow. One stock soared, one ended Thursday down 3%, and one got hammered by analysts and plummeted more than 11%. What Meta is missing Presented by Nasdaq The Nasdaq indexes investors need to know about Hardening up on cybersecurity isn't an option — it's a requirement for institutions and the individuals they serve. Spending in the sector is soaring, but most investors aren't benefitting. Nasdaq's cybersecurity indexes tap into this vital growth sector, and investors can use them to strategically target the sector. Learn how, in this 5-min Sherwood News read.  Snacks Shots 🏈 College Football: Traders are eyeing a couple of games this weekend, pricing a Georgia win over Florida at the Cocktail Party at $0.73. Later that night, the matchup between No. 18 Oklahoma and No. 14 Tennessee has also attracted attention, and the market's pricing in a 58% chance of the Volunteers taking that one. 🏈 NFL: This Sunday has severale great games lined up, with the most interesting of the afternoon games shaping up to be Chicago at Cincinnati, with the market pricing a Chicago win at 58%. The market for the Seahawks-Commanders Sunday night matchup is favoring Seattle, with 61% odds on Robinhood's* markets. ⚾️ MLB: The World Series is heading back to Toronto for Game 6, but the market still loves these Dodgers despite the Blue Jays leading the series 3-2. Robinhood's prediction market is giving LA a 58% chance of winning the decisive game. What else we're Snackin' OpenAI is preparing for an initial public offering that could value the company as high as $1 trillion US President Trump and Chinese President Xi agreed on rolling back curbs of rare earths and reducing tariffs, but the pair didn't talk about "super duper" chips Microsoft: Forget what we said, we are going to keep spending on capex As expected, Core Scientific shareholders voted against the acquisition by CoreWeave Snack Fact of the Day Big Tech's combined capex was near $100 billion last quarter alone. Friday Earnings expected from Exxon, Chevron, AbbVie, and Charter Communications   *Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company. Event contracts trading is offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC, a registered futures commission merchant with the CFTC. Advertiser's disclosures: 1 Stock markets are volatile and can fluctuate significantly in response to company, industry, political, regulatory, market, or economic developments. Investing in stock involves risks, including the loss of principal. Before investing, carefully assess whether a particular stock aligns with your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and financial situation. This is a paid advertisement for Surf Air Mobility, Inc. Was this email forwarded to you? Don't miss out on future stories — subscribe to Snacks and get your daily dose of financial news straight to your inbox.  Craving more insights in your inbox? Subscribe to Chartr and The Wrap for quality reads. Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... 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