Meta/Facebook (META/NASDAQ): Facebook shareholders looked for the thumbs-down button as the social media giant posted earnings of $2.46 per share (versus $2.59 predicted) and slight revenue miss of $28.82 billion (versus $28.94 billion expected). Revenue was down 1% due to “continuation of the weak advertising demand environment we experienced throughout the second quarter, which we believe is being driven by broader macroeconomic uncertainty,” according to CFO David Wehner. Meta mastermind Mark Zuckerberg responded to investor fears by stating: “This is a period that demands more intensity, and I expect us to get more done with fewer resources.” 

Amazon (AMZN/NASDAQ): Fear had dominated trading for retailers everywhere after Wal-Mart’s shocking news at the start of the week. Consequently, when Amazon announced it lost “a little money” instead of “all the money,” the stock bounced more than 13% in after-hours trading on Thursday. Earnings per share came in at a loss of $0.20 (versus a predicted profit of $0.12), but top-line revenues actually beat expectations at $121.23 billion (versus a predicted $119.09 billion). Clearly the inflation battle continues to be the story behind those revenue and profit numbers.

Apple (AAPL/NASDAQ): Apple continues to impress in all interest rate environments, as it innovated its way to an earnings per share of $1.20 (versus a predicted of $1.16) and earnings of $83 billion (versus $82.81 billion predicted).

Shopify (SHOP/TSX): In Canada, Shopify failed to keep pace with their more mature American tech cousins and announced a loss of $0.03 Canadian per share (versus a predicted profit of $0.03 per share). Oddly, shares leapt nearly 12% on Thursday amidst a general tech rally, after falling 14% the day before on big layoff news.

It’s hard to compare the advertising-heavy business models of Alphabet and Meta with the worker world of Amazon’s warehouses, but it’s clear that the demand for sales isn’t the issue—it’s simply a matter of cost control in an inflationary environment going forward. That said, as these companies go from revenue growth darlings to mature cost-conscious long-term profit generators. The New York Times agreed, describing the tech giants as “resilient.”

Old-fashioned durable advantage never goes out of style

With many investors looking to weather the storm in calmer waters after they’ve watched their technology and consumer discretionary stocks get crushed over the last few months, reliable old companies with proven profit margins have begun to get more attention.

It’s unlikely any of the names below will ever see the eye-popping growth they enjoyed a time ago (nevermind that of a tech darling), but this week’s earnings revealed that these corporate stalwarts mostly continue to do what they do best—make money by utilizing long-term competitive advantages.

3M (MMM/NYSE): The folks at 3M announced the big news that it will be spinning off its health-care business into a separate publicly traded company. I’m usually a fan of companies that understand they are better off focusing on core business. Subsequently, I like the general idea of creating a separate entity that will focus on oral care, health-care IT and biopharma. This news was the cherry on top of a tasty earnings report that saw earnings come in at $2.48 per share (versus $2.42 predicted) and a small revenue beat as sales topped $8.7 billion. Share prices of 3M were up nearly 5% on Tuesday after the earnings call.

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