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- Big tech stocks beat earnings after strong growth across cloud and AI services.
- Investment in data centers and infrastructure continues as demand for AI remains high.
- Strong forward guidance could position these stocks for a robust 2025 performance.
Tech giants Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple reported strong numbers in their third-quarter financials, beating analyst estimates on revenue and earnings.
After the previous week of mixed earnings results, all companies highlighted heavy investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud services. Demand for AI has driven growth and higher spending on data centers.
Alphabet: Cloud and AI Lead the Way
Alphabet reported $102.35 billion in revenue, beating the estimate of $99.89 billion while EPS came in at $3.10 per share, also exceeding the estimate of $2.33. Google Cloud’s revenue grew 35% to $15.15 billion, with YouTube ads revenue coming in at $10.26 billion, while Search ads generated $56.56 billion in revenue. ⁽¹⁾
CEO Sundar Pichai highlighted $155 billion in pending orders from AI demand, noting that over 70% of cloud customers use Google AI products. The Gemini app now has 650 million monthly users, up from 450 million. Alphabet raised 2025 capital spending to $91–93 billion as it plans more increases in 2026 for data centers. ⁽²⁾
Net income was $34.97 billion, impacted by a $3.45 billion EU antitrust fine. Other investments, like Waymo and Verily, lost $1.42 billion on $344 million revenue. ⁽³⁾
Meta: Earnings Beat Despite Tax Hit
Meta was hit with a one-time tax, implemented by President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Act, which resulted in a hefty one-time income tax of $16 billion. ⁽⁴⁾
Moving on to earnings, Meta beat estimates, reporting $51.24 billion revenue, above the $49.41 billion forecast, while EPS came in at $7.25, beating $6.69 estimates. Sales grew 26%, the best since early 2024, with ads hitting $50.08 billion, but faced a 4.4 billion defeat in Reality Labs, Meta’s virtual reality division, with sales coming in at $470 million. Meta AI app downloads rose 56% after adding Vibes video feature. ⁽⁵⁾
Meta also revealed the $799 Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses in September, which are Meta’s first consumer-ready AI glasses with a built-in display and an accompanying wristband with neural technology. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the product is sold out and that new demo slots are booked through the end of November. ⁽⁶⁾
Meta has spent the year investing heavily in AI data centers and restructuring parts of the company to improve efficiency, following a weaker-than-expected response to the release of its Llama 4 software back in April.
Microsoft: Azure Cloud Shines
Microsoft beat earnings, with revenue coming in at $77.67 billion, above a $75.33 billion estimate, while EPS came in at $3.72, beating the $3.67 forecast from analysts. Azure cloud grew 40%, above 38.2% expected. Intelligent Cloud unit revenue was $30.9 billion, up 28%. A $3.1 billion OpenAI investment hit net income. ⁽⁷⁾
Next quarter’s revenue guidance stands at $79.5–80.6 billion, slightly above estimates. Markets were watching closely for Microsoft’s commentary on CAPEX as the company races to build the infrastructure necessary to support AI demand. ⁽⁸⁾
Finance chief Amy Hood said CAPEX for this quarter came in at $34.9 billion. She told investors in July that the company expected to spend $30 billion in CAPEX and assets acquired through leases during the quarter. Hood said that the CAPEX growth rate for fiscal 2026 will be above the rate in 2025 and also hinted a possible slowdown in growth. ⁽⁹⁾
Amazon: AWS Drives Growth
Amazon beat earnings forecasts, with revenue coming in at $180.17 billion, beating estimates of $177.8 billion, while EPS came in at $1.95, above the $1.57 estimate. Revenue of Amazon’s cloud unit AWS grew 20.2% to $33 billion, with ads generating $17.7 billion. ⁽¹⁰⁾
Cloud growth has been a key area of concern for the company, which faces intensifying pressure from rivals Google and Microsoft. CEO Andy Jassy said AWS has grown its fastest since 2022 due to high demand in AI. Amazon also raised 2025 CAPEX to $125 billion. ⁽¹¹⁾
AI has become a major area of investment across Amazon, including in its retail, cloud, devices and ads businesses. The company is capitalizing on the surging demand for generative AI, particularly after the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot in 2022.
Apple: iPhone and Services Boost Outlook
Apple reported $102.47 billion in revenue, above the estimate of $102.24 billion. EPS came in at $1.85, beating $1.77 forecasts. iPhone sales grew 6% to $49.03 billion. Services hit $28.75 billion, up 15%. Mac grew 13% to $8.73 billion. ⁽¹²⁾
CEO Tim Cook expects 10–12% revenue growth in Q4, with double-digit iPhone gains. Guidance topped the $132.31 billion estimate. China sales fell 4% but is expected to grow next quarter. Tariff costs were $1.1 billion, with more costs expected ahead. New Siri and AI partnerships are also set to come in 2025. ⁽¹³⁾
Bottom Line
These results highlight how AI is fueling cloud and services growth across major tech leaders, indicating that the momentum in Big Tech continues to show optimism.
With billions invested in infrastructure to meet rising demand, companies like Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple are strengthening their dominance and could be setting the stage for a strong 2025 performance.
