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👉 Week in Review — Too Long; Didn’t Read:
Key Earnings Announcements:
Meta raised their CapEx guidance by +$30 billion.
Microsoft’s cloud business grew by +39% to $75 billion.
Apple is paying $1 billion in tariffs every quarter.
Amazon AWS disappointed investors with only +18% growth.
Investor Events & Global Affairs:
Trump’s Tariffs are creating fear in the market once again.
Figma’s IPO was incredibly exciting (+333%), but also controversial.
Palo Alto Networks made a $25B acquisition.
Major Economic Events:
We just had the most drama-filled jobs report in a very long time.
Core PCE came in hotter than expected at +2.8%.
U.S. GDP (+3.0%) surged past expectations.
Happy Sunday.
Before we get started, we wanted to offer a warm welcome to the +922 new subscribers who joined us this week, and the 3,756 of you who joined us in July!
In case you’re new around here, I’m Austin Hankwitz — I’ve been publishing earnings analysis on publicly-traded companies for over half a decade. My podcast, Rich Habits, has hit #1 on Spotify’s Business Podcast chart four times since it’s inception only two years ago.
At the start of 2023, I began my journey of building a $2M Dividend Growth Portfolio from scratch. This twice-weekly newsletter is how I keep you all updated on my progress.
For me, early retirement means $2M invested. For you, it might mean something else. Regardless of your early-retirement number — I hope these weekly synopses of my portfolio progress + what’s been happening in the markets helps you on your own journey.
Every Sunday, we publish the internet’s best summary of what happened in the markets the week prior — earnings analysis, acquisition announcements, economic data, world news, and more.
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👉 Portfolio Updates (YTD Performance):
Tons of momentum in the portfolio this week before the jobs report-related sell-off we experienced Friday. This is going to catalyze, in my opinion, some near-term choppiness in the markets until investors are able to make sense of it all. If Jerome Powell knew this information heading into Wednesday’s FOMC meeting, he would have cut interest rates — now we’ll be waiting another month for that.
It’s more important than ever to have a diversified portfolio. Yes, my portfolio was in the red on Friday — however, I had about a dozen of my “Dividend Growth Stocks” in the green. Ensuring you’re methodical about how much risk you’re taking on any given day is paramount. I’ll be deploying ~$35K toward the portfolio during August.
I received ~$800 in monthly income from the above-shown NEOS funds portfolio last week. I redeployed that income back into the funds that paid it.
Bitcoin and Ethereum continue to do what they do best — whatever the hell they want. Riding the wave on this one knowing damn well we’ll be higher in a few weeks / months from now.
If Friday’s sell-off negatively impacted your portfolio by more than -2%, you need to re-evaluate your risk level. Consider using this near-term chop we’ll likely experience as an opportunity to diversify into more “stable” names.
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👉 Key Earnings Announcements:
Meta raised their CapEx guidance by +$30 billion, Microsoft’s Azure business grew by +39% to $75 billion, Apple is paying $1 billion in tariffs every quarter, and Amazon AWS disappointed investors with only +18% growth.
Meta Platforms (META)
Key Metrics
Revenue: $47.5 billion, an increase of +22% YoY
Operating Income: $20.4 billion, an increase of +38% YoY
Profits: $18.3 billion, an increase of +36% YoY
Earnings Release Callout
“We've had a strong quarter both in terms of our business and community. I'm excited to build personal superintelligence for everyone in the world.”
My Takeaway
Meta reported strong Q2 results with revenue +6% ahead of Wall Street’s expectations, and operating income $3.4B above consensus. Revenue grew by +22% during the quarter, while the company’s operating income margin expanded by +5%. Investor sentiment was already elevated going into the report given early indications of resilient ad demand and the resumption of spend in the US from APAC-based retailers — shares of Meta stock still surged +10% after-hours.
Importantly, management’s Q3 revenue outlook calls for continued growth to the tune of at least +20% YoY — leading many analysts to believe a sequential acceleration could take place.
Alongside results, management narrowed their CapEx guidance for 2025 to $66-72 billion, growing +$30B year-over-year. Management also expects a similar level of CapEx growth in 2026. Wall Street believes this level of investment back into the business is justified, and the infusion of AI capabilities across the company’s ad stack and content recommendation engines are driving tangible results for Meta’s Family of Apps and Realty Labs.
It’s obvious to me this company is going to continue to win in AI — and I’m very happy to be a shareholder during it all.
Holding shares.
Microsoft (MSFT)
Key Metrics
Revenue: $76.4 billion, an increase of +18% YoY
Operating Income: $32.6 billion, an increase of +20% YoY
Profits: $27.2 billion, an increase of +23% YoY
Earnings Release Callout
“Cloud and AI is the driving force of business transformation across every industry and sector. We’re innovating across the tech stack to help customers adapt and grow in this new era, and this year, Azure surpassed $75 billion in revenue, up 34 percent, driven by growth across all workloads.
We closed out the fiscal year with a strong quarter, highlighted by Microsoft Cloud revenue reaching $46.7 billion, up 27% year-over-year.”
My Takeaway
This was a watershed quarter for the company given the eye-popping cloud and AI strength. Microsoft delivered strong results followed by strong guidance — it’s obvious that AI is already changing the growth trajectory of Microsoft’s cloud growth story. Azure experienced +39% YoY growth while surpassing $75B in revenue.
With customers looking to continue innovating across the tech stack to adapt to the new AI era, they’re excited to be using Azure to do so. Azure now has over 800 million monthly active users for it’s AI features across its products — including 80% of Fortune 500 companies.
The company provided strong forward guidance to kick off the start of their fiscal year as it remains clear the next 12 months are crucial. Azure is expected to grow by another +37% despite being capacity constrained during the rest of 2025. To alleviate such constraint, Microsoft is doubling down on their CapEx — adding another $30B to this line item, bringing it up to $120B for the next 12 months.
The recent reacceleration of Azure is a testament to Microsoft hitting its next phase of monetizing AI demand. Very bullish!
Holding shares.
Apple (AAPL)
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