Big Tech is about to run a two-day gauntlet featuring some of the market’s heaviest hitters.

Netflix and SpaceX report after the closing bell today. Meta and Tesla follow on Wednesday. All four are, in their own ways, expensive growth stories, and their earnings arrive at a difficult moment for markets.

The AI trade has taken a beating of late from investors turning skeptical of immense spending plans. The companies tapping debt markets to finance that spending are getting even more of a side eye from traders.

That ramps up the stakes for this week’s reports. For years, these tech giants have been rewarded for their future growth stories. Now, investors are increasingly looking for receipts.

Here’s what each company needs to prove:

Netflix (Oct. 20)

Netflix’s ouster of Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria underscores its push for more original hits. After missing out on Warner Bros. Discovery, investors want the streamer to find them on its own — and soon. That puts extra weight on Netflix’s content slate, especially as it competes for eyeballs against free competitors like YouTube and TikTok.

What investors want to see: A credible pipeline of must-watch shows, steadier engagement, and growth in advertising and live programming.

SpaceX (Oct. 20)

SpaceX has a lot going on. Starlink, launches, Starship, satellites, and a growing AI business. That means there’s a lot to spend money on.

That sets up today’s report as a useful public-market check on the company’s sprawling ambitions. Traders will want a clearer sense of which parts of the business are actually gaining real commercial traction, and — most importantly — how much it’s all going to cost.

What investors want to see: Strong Starlink growth, a healthy pace of launches, and tangible progress toward cheaper, reusable Starship launches.

Meta (Oct. 21)

Meta’s stock has surged since the release of Muse, its new agentic-AI platform. The bull case is that agents can open a new growth lane while making Meta’s enormous advertising business even more valuable.

But shares have been hit by AI jitters in recent days. And the higher Meta stock rises on the grand promise of agentic-AI earnings growth, the more evidence investors will demand. That can be a slippery slope.

What investors want to see: Signs that Muse is gaining users, attracting advertisers, or moving toward monetization — all without another alarming jump in capex spending.

Tesla (Oct. 21)

Tesla already beat delivery expectations for the quarter, but that’s only part of the company’s story. The stock’s premium still rests on the future prospects of robotaxis, Optimus, and AI. With Tesla’s core car business under pressure, management needs to offer some sort of tangible evidence that those bets are progressing.

What investors want to see: Resilient auto margins and cash flow, continued momentum in energy storage, and specific evidence that robotaxis and Optimus are advancing.

Tesla fits neatly alongside the other three reports. While the bar is different for each, none will get credit for simply repeating a familiar promise. “Proof” is the word of the week — and it’s what investors will be looking for.