Wall Street is gearing up for a pivotal week as tech titans Microsoft and Meta report quarterly earnings on July 29, with analysts forecasting strong results that may send ripples through the cryptocurrency market—especially for AI-related tokens. Both companies are deep into massive AI infrastructure spending, and the outcome of these calls could shape risk appetite across asset classes.
Microsoft (MSFT): AI demand strong, but capex fears persist
Oppenheimer’s Brian Schwartz reiterated an Outperform rating with a $515 price target, citing “healthy” demand but warning that “elevated capex remains an overhang for better investor sentiment.” The consensus expects Q4 FY26 EPS of $4.24, a 16% year-over-year jump, on revenue of roughly $87.62 billion. MSFT trades at $397.75, down 19% year-to-date, pressured by concerns over the return on investment from its cloud and AI buildout. Still, the Street remains broadly bullish: 35 Buys, one Hold, one Sell, and an average target of $558.86—implying 43% upside.
Meta (META): cloud computing launch likely, adding a new catalyst
Bernstein and Mizuho both issued Buy ratings ahead of Meta’s Q2 print, with consensus estimates of $7.19 EPS and $60.22 billion revenue, a 26.7% surge. The bigger story, however, is Meta’s expected announcement of a cloud computing business. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said a cloud service is “definitely on the table,” and reports indicate Meta is in talks to lease computing power to Anthropic in a deal potentially worth $10 billion. This would make Meta the fourth hyperscaler with a cloud arm, following Alphabet’s 82% Google Cloud revenue spike to $24.8 billion. Mizuho analyst Lloyd Walmsley called META his top pick in online ads, highlighting stable engagement and potential updates on WhatsApp monetization.
Crypto markets stand to benefit
Strong earnings from Microsoft and Meta could reinforce the booming AI narrative, which has been a major driver for tokens like Fetch.ai (FET) and Render (RNDR). A formal cloud business from Meta would signal even larger demand for AI compute, potentially boosting decentralized infrastructure projects that focus on distributed computing and AI agents. At the same time, upbeat tech sentiment often spills over into risk assets, lifting Bitcoin (BTC) and the wider crypto market as investors grow more comfortable with risk exposure.
While the earnings themselves are strictly about traditional equities, the crypto market often takes cues from tech sector health. With Meta potentially entering the cloud race and both companies doubling down on AI capex, the long-term outlook for AI and data-focused cryptocurrencies could see a positive inflection should the reports beat expectations.
