Overview of the Seven Major U.S. Stock Giants' Earnings Reports » Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta all beat expectations in Q1! Cloud and AI businesses shine brightly

U.S. stocks’ “Magnificent 7,” including Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta, all opened their results simultaneously in the early hours today (30th). The four tech giants all beat forecasts across their Q1 earnings reports, with cloud and AI businesses shining; however, the high AI capital expenditures (CapEx) also set off investors’ sensitivities, and Meta’s stock fell after-hours due to an increase in its full-year spending guidance. Market focus has shifted from “who is doing AI” to “when will AI be able to make money.”
(Background recap: The U.S. Magnificent 7 are reporting today! Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Amazon earnings reports; AI CapEx affecting TSMC’s stock trend)
(Background addition: Bitcoin faces a decisive showdown at this week’s FOMC meeting and tech stock earnings! QCP: If BTC breaks above the $82,000 CME gap, it could test the $90,000 level)

Table of Contents

Toggle

• Microsoft (MSFT): Azure cloud is strong, OpenAI investment eats into some profits
• Alphabet (GOOGL): Google Cloud surges massively, revenue jumps 63%
• Amazon (AMZN): AWS and retail driven by dual engines
• Meta (META): The steady cash cow of ads, but “sky-high CapEx” scares investors

In the early hours today (30th) (after-hours on April 29 in U.S. Eastern Time, Taiwan time), Wall Street entered a “super earnings day.” Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL), and Meta all gathered to unveil their results for the first quarter of 2026 (or the corresponding fiscal quarter).

Overall, these four tech giants delivered an impeccable “report card,” beating Wall Street analysts’ expectations across the board for both revenue and earnings per share (EPS). However, after-hours stock performance showed stark polarization, and the key lies in the intense tug-of-war between the market’s “AI capital expenditures (CapEx)” and “actual return on investment.”

Below is a quick rundown of key figures from the Q1 earnings of the four tech giants:

Microsoft (MSFT): Azure cloud is strong, OpenAI investment eats into some profits

• Revenue and profit: Revenue reached $82.89 billion (up 18% year over year), beating expectations of $81.3 billion; EPS was $4.27 (up 23% year over year), also above expectations.
• Business highlights: Intelligent Cloud—especially Azure—showed strong momentum, with Microsoft’s overall cloud gross margin as high as 68%.
• Hidden concern: Although operating income grew 24% year over year, the company’s massive investment in OpenAI generated losses, which had a negative impact of about $0.41 on this quarter’s EPS. The after-hours share price accordingly fluctuated, as investors closely watched when AI investments would become fully self-sustaining.

Alphabet (GOOGL): Google Cloud surges massively, revenue jumps 63%

• Revenue and profit: Revenue reached $109.9 billion (up 22% year over year); EPS surged to $5.11 (up 82% year over year), delivering a substantial beat.
• Business highlights: The biggest highlight of the quarter was Google Cloud, whose revenue jumped to $20 billion (up 63%), showing GCP’s very strong momentum in enterprise AI solutions and infrastructure.
• Core advertising: Google services’ total revenue reached $89.6 billion; search business grew 19%, and YouTube advertising grew 11%. Overall gross margin also expanded sharply to 36.1%.

Amazon (AMZN): AWS and retail driven by dual engines

• Revenue and profit: Revenue was as high as $181.5 billion (up 17% year over year), far exceeding expectations of $177.2 billion; EPS rose sharply from $1.59 in the prior-year period to $2.78.
• Business highlights: Driven by investment in AWS cloud services and AI infrastructure, along with steady performance in its core retail business, Amazon continues to demonstrate strong monetization capabilities. Its future capital expenditures will also be highly focused on AI infrastructure.

Meta (META): The steady cash cow of ads, but “sky-high CapEx” scares investors

• Revenue and profit: Revenue was $56.31 billion (up 33% year over year); EPS was $10.44 (including a one-time $8 billion tax benefit—about $7.31 excluding it), significantly ahead of expectations.
• Business highlights: Daily active users in the DAP family reached 3.56 billion; ad impressions increased 19% year over year, and average ad prices rose 12%, indicating continued profits from Reels and AI-driven promotion precision.
• Market pain point: Despite strong results, Meta announced it would raise full-year 2026 capital expenditures (CapEx) significantly to $125 billion to $145 billion (from $115 billion to $135 billion) to fully ramp up AI and the metaverse. The enormous cash-burn plan immediately triggered market panic, causing Meta’s after-hours share price to fall.

In summary, growth in AI and cloud businesses has indeed kept pace with these giants and initially showed returns for investors. However, the combined AI capital expenditures totaling hundreds of billions of dollars across the four companies also put market patience to the test. Next, Apple (AAPL), one of the Magnificent 7, will follow up by releasing earnings after the market closes tomorrow (1st), which is expected to again set the tone for technology stocks and overall market direction.