Can Apple, Facebook, Alibaba keep the earnings bandwagon rolling?

Another very heavy week for earnings will reach a crescendo on Thursday, November 2. The excitement isn’t surprising after the huge earnings that Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), and Intel (INTC) delivered this past Thursday, October 26.

This week Facebook (FB) is the Wednesday, November 1,  warmup act. Wall Street is projecting that the company will report $1.28 a share in earnings for the quarter. If Facebook doesn’t announce a big surprise, investors and traders will be disappointed since 1) Facebook reported earnings of $1.32 last quarter and 2) last quarter Facebook surprised by 20 cents a share.

And then there’s Thursday, November 2.

Before the New York market opens China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba (BABA) will report. The consensus projection is that Alibaba will announce earnings of $1.04 a share. That would be up from 79 cents in the year earlier quarter in 2016. But down from the $1.17 reported last quarter. As with Facebook the market will be disappointed if Alibaba doesn’t deliver a substantial surprise. Last quarter the company beat expectations by 24 cents a share.

And after hours Apple (AAPL) will report. Analysts are projecting that Apple will report earnings of $1.87 a share, up from the $1.67 it reported last quarter and ahead of the $1.67 it reported for the September quarter of 2016. But the most sought after news will be anything that sheds light on the December quarter. December is always Apple’s biggest quarter–last year the quarter saw earnings of $3.36 a share. And with reports of severe shortages of the iPhoneX and huge demand, the company’s guidance for the December quarter will reveal a lot about how soon Apple believes it will be able to ramp up supply. Thursday midnight (California time) was the first time anyone could actually pre-order the iPhoneX. Supplies were exhausted in 10 minutes with later customers being told they would have to wait for as much as four weeks for a phone.

These may be the highest profile earnings announcements for the week, but they aren’t the only important ones.  Jubak Picks biotech Incyte (INCY) and MasterCard (MA) report on Tuesday, October 31. Wednesday’s reports include Qualcomm (QCOM,) security leader FireEye (FEYE), 50 Stocks member Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD), and one of my current research candidates Shake Shack (SHAK). Nektar (NKTR), a biotech in my Volatility Portfolio, reports on Thursday.

And that’s just the top of the earnings mountain for the week.