These Are The Stocks You Should Watch in July

Stocks soared to record highs in June, boosted by optimism about possible trade deals, easing geopolitical tensions, and hope that the Federal Reserve could resume cutting interest rates in the coming months.

In July, market participants will first be watching President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which legislators aim to pass this week. Investors’ attention will then turn to second-quarter corporate results, which start rolling in mid-month. Wall Street will be looking for signs of the impact that tariffs are having on profit margins and consumer demand.

Below, we look at stocks that are worth watching this month.

Microsoft

Microsoft (MSFT) is expected to report quarterly earnings late in the month, and the results, if they’re anything like last quarter’s, could make the software giant the world’s first $4 trillion company. 

Microsoft in April reported cloud computing revenue increased by 21% in the first three months of the year, helping to drive better-than-expected results on the top and bottom lines. Shares jumped nearly 8% the next day, and the stock has climbed steadily to a series of record highs ever since. 

The results helped to revive an AI trade that, because of tariff-driven anxiety, was struggling to regain its footing after the DeepSeek shock in January. The AI rally of the last two months has lifted tech stocks to record highs and set earnings expectations high for giants like Microsoft. 

Microsoft shares rose 8% in June, putting the stock up 18% since the start of the year. 

Tesla

Tesla (TSLA) is slated to report second-quarter deliveries on July 2, and investors will be watching to see if the numbers have stabilized now that CEO Elon Musk has put some distance between himself and his controversial work with President Trump. 

Tesla sales slumped across the globe earlier this year amid a consumer backlash to Musk’s work with the White House’s cost-cutting task force, the Department of Government Efficiency, and his support for far-right parties in Europe. Deliveries continued to decline in several key European markets in May, suggesting the carmaker’s reputational troubles could linger.

Granted, car deliveries may matter less to Wall Street than they did as recently as last year. That’s because Musk has—at least rhetorically—pinned Tesla’s future on its nascent self-driving software and the robotaxi service he envisages it powering. 

Tesla soft-launched its robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, late last month. The rollout wasn’t without its hiccups—federal regulators reportedly contacted the company after videos circulated online showing its cars driving erratically. Still, Musk called the launch a success, and intends to ramp the service within Austin and expand to other metro areas before the end of the year. 

Analysts are likely to query Musk about the timeline of a wider robotaxi launch during the company’s second-quarter earnings call, likely to take place closer to the end of the month. 

Tesla shares fell 8.3% last month, pushing their year-to-date decline to 21%. 

Advanced Micro Devices

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is expected to report quarterly results late in the month, and expectations could be elevated after the stock’s big run-up in June.

AMD shares rose 28% last month, their best since May 2023. AMD hosted its Advancing AI event where the chipmaker unveiled a new graphics processing unit to compete with Nvidia’s (NVDA) Blackwell chips, and said it would launch a ‘Helios’ rack-scale system to take on Nvidia’s Vera Rubin series starting in 2026. 

Analysts were impressed by the event. Piper Sandler raised its price target on the stock, saying ‘Helios’ would be “pivotal” for AMD’s growth. Bank of America noted that Nvidia remained the AI chip leader, but that AMD had proven it was cementing its spot as “the next-best AI vendor.”

The stock could take a hit this month from the announcement of semiconductor tariffs, which President Trump ordered the Commerce Department to investigate in April. Section 232 tariff investigations usually take 270 days, but Trump has reportedly requested a speedier review, and his penchant for 90-day timelines—see tariff pauses—could mean the end of that investigation lands in July. 

After AMD’s June rally, shares are up more than 17% since the start of the year. 

Solar Stocks

The “One Big Beautiful Bill” making its way through Congress contains provisions that are likely to deal a major blow to solar and other renewable energy companies. 

The Senate version that was being considered on Monday would phase out tax credits for wind and solar projects by 2027, a less severe provision than the House bill passed in May, which repeals the credits for any project that hasn’t broken ground within 60 days of the law’s enactment. The two bills will need to be reconciled before being sent to President Trump’s desk, which he’s said he wants done this week. 

The Senate bill contained the slightest of silver linings for companies like First Solar (FSLR) that manufacture their products in the U.S. It levies new taxes on imported renewables equipment, and an additional penalty for projects that use equipment from China, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of clean energy technology.  

The renewable provisions in the final bill are likely to be in flux right up to the July 4th deadline, but wind and solar investors will be hoping for some mercy from lawmakers. 

Ford

Ford (F) is expected to report quarterly results late in the month, and investors will be looking to its guidance to judge how big a toll tariffs are likely to take on corporate earnings this year.

The carmaker suspended its full-year guidance, citing the unpredictable tariff outlook, when it reported first-quarter earnings in May. The company estimated it would take a $2.5 billion hit from the tariffs, but that it could offset about $1 billion of those costs. 

The tariff picture has become slightly clearer in recent months. Imported vehicles and autoparts are subject to a 25% tariff, except for those that comply with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement negotiated during the first Trump presidency. Those levies went into effect in the second quarter, and the true cost of those tariffs should be evident in both Ford’s results and financial projections. 

Ford shares rose 4.5% in June, putting the stock up nearly 10% since the start of the year.