By Emil Bjerg, journalist and editor
This week, a lot of companies have released their Q4 earnings, rattling the stock markets. Here, we cover who’s winning, who’s losing and why.
Alphabet, Apple: Big Tech Companies in Decline
American tech companies have recently been impacted by the release of Chinese DeepSeek, an LLM competing with or even outcompeting its American competitors. Nvidia saw a 17% plunge, losing nearly $600 billion, marking the biggest single-day drop in U.S. corporate history, according to CNBC. More than a week later, the Nvidia stock is still in its early recovery.
A week later, Big Tech continues to suffer. Google’s parent company, Alphabet is down by 9%, Google’s parent company, despite reporting nearly 12% year-over-year revenue growth. This happens as Alphabet’s bet on AI has led them to lose cloud revenue. Bank of America’s Savita Subramanian explains: “These companies, the hyper scalers, are damned if they do and damned if they don’t, because they have to spend a lot to remain competitive, but they are cutting into their cash flow”.
Apple shares Google’s current trajectory with a decline of over 2% following a Bloomberg News report suggesting that Chinese regulators are contemplating an antitrust investigation into the company’s App Store practices.
AMD: Decline for Chips Manufacturers
Nvidia isn’t the only AI chip company facing heavy losses. AMD’s stock dropped 9.8% following its Q4 2024 earnings report, primarily due to its data center revenue falling short of expectations. AMD reported data center revenue of $3.9 billion, which was below the consensus expectation of $4.15 billion. The disappointing result suggests AMD may be facing increased competition, particularly from Nvidia, in the rapidly growing AI chip market.
Palantir: AI Drives Explosive Growth
Palantir Technologies delivered one of the biggest surprises with their Q4 earnings. The company reported strong Q4 2024 results on February 5, 2025, causing its stock to surge past $100, marking an impressive 500% increase over the past year.
CEO Alex Karp attributes much of the company’s growth to its application of artificial intelligence, stating, “Our business results continue to astound, demonstrating our deepening position at the center of the AI revolution”
Uber: A Strong Dollar Weakens Rideshare Giant
Uber’s stock dropped 5.3% following its Q4 2024 earnings release which fell below expectations. With Uber operating in over 70 countries, the company had warned that a strong dollar could negatively impact its performance. When converting foreign earnings back to USD, a strong dollar results in lower reported revenue from international markets.
In the coming months and throughout 2025, Uber’s experiments with autonomous vehicles (AVs) are likely to have a significant impact on the company’s performance as Uber expands its AV offerings through partnerships with companies like Waymo and May Mobility.
Novo Nordisk: Wegovy Demand Drives Growth
Novo Nordisk delivered a robust financial performance for Q4 2024, surpassing analyst expectations with a net profit of 28.23 billion Danish kroner, compared to the anticipated 26.09 billion Danish kroner. The company’s standout performer was Wegovy, its obesity treatment, which saw a remarkable 107% year-over-year sales surge. This saw the stock initially go up by 3.1%.
Novo Nordisk competitor Eli Lilly will report its Q4 2024 earnings on February 6th, but is up by 1.7 % on the day of Novo Nordisk Q4 report. As such, Eli Lilly is still ahead in the biotech race following the Novo Nordisk setback in late 2024.
Banco Santander: A European Banking Success
Another European success story is Banco Santander, which saw its shares go up 7% in early trading following the release of their Q4 earnings. The Spanish bank has seen its net profit rising 11% year-over-year to €3.265 billion.
Along with record profits, Santander announced a €10 billion share buyback program, promising significant capital returns to investors in 2025 and 2026. This program, along with the €1.6 billion buyback linked to 2024 profits, represents a substantial commitment to returning value to shareholders.
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