Episode summary
Big Tech Special: Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet & Amazon Deliver Earnings | Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
· · 29 min · Hosts: Carol Massar, Tim Stenovec
Summary
The earnings wave turned on a familiar theme: the hyperscalers are still spending heavily on AI infrastructure, but investors want evidence that the outlays are producing faster cloud growth and better monetization. Microsoft beat estimates with Azure and other cloud revenue up 39%, while Amazon said second-quarter net sales should be $194 billion to $199 billion, above the Street, and AWS growth accelerated to 28%. Alphabet also topped expectations, with first-quarter revenue of $109.9 billion and Google Cloud sales above $20 billion, helped by stronger AI demand and a 5% dividend increase.
Meta was the outlier. The company lifted its 2026 capex range to $125 billion to $145 billion from $115 billion to $135 billion, while second-quarter revenue guidance of $58 billion to $61 billion was only in line with expectations. That higher spending plan pushed the stock lower after hours even as speakers argued the company is still monetizing AI effectively across Facebook and Instagram. Qualcomm also warned that third-quarter revenue would miss estimates, with China handset weakness still weighing on the business.
Across the discussion, the main argument was that AI demand is outrunning supply, and the market is becoming more willing to tolerate rising capital spending when it comes with stronger cloud growth, better margins, and clearer proof points.
Key takeaways
- Microsoft’s Azure growth reaccelerated to 39%, reinforcing the case that its cloud business is still gaining from AI demand.
- Amazon’s AWS growth hit 28%, the fastest pace in about 15 quarters, but free cash flow fell sharply as capex surged.
- Alphabet posted $109.9 billion in first-quarter revenue and said Gemini Enterprise active users grew 40% quarter over quarter.
- Meta raised 2026 capex to $125 billion to $145 billion, and the market punished the stock because revenue guidance was only in line.
- Qualcomm said third-quarter revenue would come in below estimates and pointed to a weak China handset market.
Notable quotes
“AI demand is running ahead of their ability to supply”
“AWS growth is projected to accelerate toward 25.6% following its landmark 100 billion infrastructure deal with anthropic”
“Google Cloud specifically and reporting over 20 billion revenue, well, that basically beat out the analyst estimates”
“the company sees third quarter revenue coming in shy of estimates $9.2 billion to 10 billion”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news. — This is Bloomberg Business Week Daily, reporting from the magazine that helps global leaders stay ahead with insight on the people, companies, and trends shaping today's complex economy. Plus, global business, finance, and tech news as it happens. The Bloomberg Business Week Daily podcast with Carol Masser and Tim Stenc on Bloomberg Radio.
Carol Masser along with Tim Stenbeck getting ready for a big drop of — You better be ready cuz they're out. — Max 7. Hey, Qualcomm already out. Uh stock is down in the aftermarket. — Yeah, the company sees third quarter revenue coming in shy of estimates $9.2 billion to 10 billion. The estimate was for 10.26 billion. Qualcomm says China handset market to reach the bottom in third quarter. This says shipments have fallen short of consumer demand. First half capex $1.08 billion dollars.
All right, Amazon and Meta are out. So too is Microsoft. So folks, here we go.
Amazon uh looking at the outlook. Let's go there. See second quarter net sales, they are kicking the numbers higher 194 to zero uh 194 billion excuse me to 199 billion.
The estimate on the street is 189.15 billion. See second quarter operating income of 20 to 24 billion. That is um compared to the estimate of 22.86 billion.
AWS net sales. This plays into the cloud for the first quarter. XFX up 28% that beats the estimate of a rise of 25.7%.
We are seeing Amazon shares though down about 3.8% in the uh after hours trade uh not seeing yet uh a capex number. Operating uh margin though for the first quarter. Tim that came in better than forecast 13.1% versus 11.7% higher.
and just looking to see if we see anything about caps uh capex.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- big tech earnings
- meta results
- microsoft results
- alphabet results
- amazon results
Companies and tickers mentioned
- META
- MSFT
- GOOGL
- GOOG
- AMZN
- Meta
- Microsoft
- Alphabet
- Amazon
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Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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