Apple, Microsoft and Intel earnings give a look at big tech's business health
Nikada/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images

The tech earnings season kicked into gear in full force this week, with a slate of bellwethers giving a look into the state of their businesses during the final three months of 2021. And there was pretty much something for everyone.
We might as well start with the biggest of the big, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). The world's most-valuable company said that even with supply chain issues impacting its operations, it still reported a staggering $124 billion in revenue for its fiscal first quarter. Every area of Apple's (AAPL) business, save for the iPad, saw sales that grew over the same period a year ago.
And, it was the iPad that Apple (AAPL) Chief Executive Tim Cook said was seeing the biggest effect of supply chain shortages coming from the semiconductor industry. Unlike in October, when Apple (AAPL) said its business quarter took a $6 billion hit due to supply chain issues, Cook and Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri only said their first quarter saw a bigger impact from the ongoing supply constraints and didn't give any exact dollar amount.
Still, Apple (AAPL) said that for its current, fiscal second-quarter, it sees the supply issues improving, and that revenue should grow on a year-over-year basis. 
Apple (AAPL) also made some headlines as the company was granted a restraining order against a woman with a history of harassing CEO Tim Cook, and claiming that he was her husband and the father of her two children.
Along with Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), the world's second-most valuable company, reported strong quarterly results that were led by the performance of its cloud business. Investors and Wall Street analysts threw their weight behind Microsoft (MSFT), with Tyler Radke, of Citi, saying that the company is "living up to the legend."
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) turned in upbeat fourth-quarter results, but felt some blowback from a first-quarter outlook that, while better than what analysts had forecast, suggested sales and earnings that will decline from the same period a year ago. And CEO Pat Gelsinger also said that supply constraints are likely to last through this year and into 2023.
AT&T (NYSE:T) showed signs that business is improving, due in part to gains in wireless phone subscribers and its HBO business. However, the company didn't feel the love from investors after CEO John Stankey said he is favoring a spinoff to complete AT&T's (T) plans to combine WarnerMedia with Discovery
(NASDAQ:DISCA).
One of the biggest potential tech sector acquisitions of late may be about to go the way of the Dodo. Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is reportedly on the brink of abandoning its efforts to acquire chip-technology company Arm Holdings for $40 billion, but analysts say that dropping the deal could actually be beneficial to Nvidia (NVDA).
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX)
started week out by losing even more ground following a disappointing subscriber report it gave more than a week ago. However, by midweek, the company had managed to regain some of its shine after Pershing Square's Bill Ackman said his firm had just acquired 3.1 million Netflix (NFLX) shares, to make it a top-20 stakeholder in the streaming TV leader.
The videogame industry, already active following Take-Two's (NASDAQ:TTWO) deal to acquire Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA), and Microsoft's (MSFT) plan to acquire Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) for almost $69 billion, heard from Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) as the videogame giant said it has begun working on three new Star Wars games.
And Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) claimed a victory in the courtroom as a British judge ruled in favor of the company in a fraud trial against former Automony CEO Mike Lynch.