Let’s be honest, when you hear “Magnificent Seven earnings growth,” your brain probably conjures up an image of seven tech giants all firing on all cylinders.

That’s the brand. That’s the narrative.

And looking at first-quarter 2026 estimates, it seems to check out: the group is expected to post 22.8% earnings growth, blowing past the 10.1% from the other 493 S&P 500 Index companies.

For the full year, the gap gets even wider — 24.6% vs. 15.9%.

Impressive, right? Sure.

Until you pull one thread.

Take NVIDIA (NVDA) out of the equation, and suddenly the Mag 7 isn’t so magnificent.

The ex-NVDA group drops to just 6.4% earnings growth in the first quarter — that’s not just underwhelming, it’s below the rest of the market. Even over the full year, they claw back only to 13.2%, still trailing the broader index.

Think about that for a second. Six of the most powerful companies on the planet — Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Meta Platforms (META), Tesla (TSLA) — are, as a group, expected to grow earnings more slowly than the average S&P 500 company this year.

NVIDIA is doing that much heavy lifting.

So, the question I keep coming back to: is this a bullish signal for AI’s transformative power, or a flashing yellow light about how dangerously concentrated this market’s growth story really is?

Only time will tell.

Now, let’s jump into some “bullish” earnings projections for next week…

“Bullish” Earnings to Watch

These stocks are expected to beat their EPS from the previous quarter. And if those expectations are met or exceeded, they could potentially trade higher.

For this screen, stocks must meet four criteria:

10 or more analysts cover the stock.
The average analyst recommendation is a “Buy.”
It BEAT analysts’ EPS estimates for the previous quarter.
The average analyst estimate for the current quarter’s EPS is greater than the previous one.

Here are 10 companies that made this week’s list:

The stocks in this table all share one thing in common — the expectation that this quarter is going to look a lot better than the last one.

Some are modest improvements. Some are full-blown resurrections. And a few are making the jump from negative earnings per share (EPS) territory back into the black, which is always worth paying attention to.

The one I keep coming back to is Humana Inc. (HUM).

Last quarter, Humana posted an EPS of -$6.61.

The company was burning money at a pace that had Wall Street genuinely rattled — and for good reason.

Humana’s core business is Medicare Advantage, and over the past year or so, that business has been getting crushed by higher-than-expected medical costs.

People who deferred care during and after the pandemic came roaring back, and insurers like Humana got stuck with the bill.

But analysts are now projecting $10.21 in EPS for this quarter — a swing of nearly $17 per share.

That’s a stunning reversal.

The bull case here is that medical utilization is finally normalizing, that Humana has repriced its plans to reflect real-world costs, and that the worst is genuinely behind them. If that’s true, this might be one of the more interesting earnings reports to watch this season.

I see Humana meeting expectations, or even surpassing them… which would do wonders for its “Bearish” rating on Adam’s Green Zone Power Ratings system.

Now, let’s look at potentially “bearish” earnings for next week…

“Bearish” Earnings to Watch

For our “bearish” earnings screen, we’re only looking for two things:

10 or more analysts must cover the stock.
The average analyst estimate for the current quarter’s EPS is less than the previous quarter’s.

We want companies that are covered by a sufficiently large group of Wall Street analysts who collectively expect the company to report a quarter-over-quarter decline in earnings.

Here are 10 companies that passed this screen:

Earlier, I mentioned that the Mag 7 — excluding Nvidia — are actually expected to grow earnings more slowly than the rest of the S&P 500 this year. Well, here’s where that starts to feel very real.

Three of the most recognized names in the world are sitting on this bearish list, and the quarter-over-quarter EPS drops are hard to ignore.

AAPL is looking at $1.95 this quarter against $2.84 last quarter — a drop of nearly 31%.

Apple continues to face a stubborn growth problem in its core iPhone business, and tariff exposure tied to its China manufacturing footprint isn’t helping. Services revenue is still a bright spot, but it’s not enough to move the needle the way hardware once did.

MSFT goes from $5.16 to an estimated $4.05 — about a 21% decline. This one is a little more nuanced.

Microsoft is spending aggressively on AI infrastructure, which is great for the long-term story but creates real near-term margin pressure.

The market has largely given the company a pass on that trade-off, but at some point, the capital expenditure has to start showing up in the results.

META sees a drop from $8.88 to $6.66, roughly 25% lower.

Like Microsoft, Meta is in full AI investment mode — and Mark Zuckerberg has been about as subtle as a foghorn in telling shareholders to be patient.

The ad business remains strong, but that spending is showing up in the numbers.

I suspect all three of these will either come in at estimates or perhaps slightly higher.

Even so, these lower EPS figures could put pressure on all of their Green Zone Power Ratings.

Put these three together, and you start to understand exactly what that Mag 7 ex-NVDA chart was quietly telling us: the rest of the group is navigating a tricky stretch, and this earnings season is going to put that on full display.

Until next time…

Safe trading,