The US markets closed broadly unchanged on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve stored the rates of interest unchanged. Nevertheless, a lot of the exercise occurred after the closing hours, when megacap titans like Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft printed their quarterly earnings in after-market hours. The outcomes have been in the important thing focus as buyers search for tangible returns from the huge AI and associated infrastructure investments. Right here is how these 4 megacap corporations carried out of their quarterly earnings, and whether or not the huge AI spending has led to any sizable outcomes.
Alphabet
Shares of Alphabet, the mum or dad firm of Google, jumped over 7% within the prolonged buying and selling hours, essentially the most among the many 4, after the corporate launched its quarterly earnings report. The corporate posted a income progress of $109 billion, up 22% YoY. The EPS of $5.1beat the consensus estimates on investing.com of $2.11 per share. The important thing catalyst was Google Cloud, which clocked the income of $20 billion, up 63% YoY. The promoting enterprise nonetheless stays to be the dominant contributor to the topline at $77 billion, which rose by ~16% YoY.
The buoyancy is led by the structural shift within the cloud enterprise mannequin. AI enterprise options have been the first driver for the Google Cloud Division as customers embedded enterprise stage AI into workflows. Notably, Google’s cloud backlog practically doubled to $462 billion, led by demand from AI and TPU {hardware} gross sales.
Amazon
Amazon additionally led the bandwagon of tech progress within the first quarter earnings. The corporate posted a 17% YoY leap in income at $181.5 billion, primarily led by the AWS enterprise. The cloud enterprise is now at a $150 billion annualised income run price, with quarterly income leaping 28% YoY to $37.6 billion. The expansion, which was additionally the quickest in three years, was primarily led by elevated AI spending and migrations.
The core e-commerce phase posted a income leap of 12% YoY at $63 billion, and the promoting income jumped 24% YoY to $17.2 billion.The consolidated EPS for the quarter stood at $2.78, beating consensus estimates of $1.64 per share.For the continuing quarter, the corporate expects to clock the income between $194 billion and $199 billion.
Microsoft
Microsoft posted a income progress of 18% YoY to ₹82.9 billion, beating the analyst estimates of $81 billion. Just like Alphabet and Amazon, Microsoft’s cloud enterprise additionally witnessed sturdy progress through the quarter. The general Microsoft cloud enterprise jumped 29% YoY to $54.5 billion. The AI enterprise clocked the income of $37 billion, up 123% YoY, which can be the one participant breaking out on the AI income.
Commenting on the outcomes, CEO Satya Nadella mentioned,” We’re centered on delivering cloud and AI infrastructure and options that empower each enterprise to excel of their outcomes within the agentic computing period”.
After posting sturdy earnings for the quarter ended March 2026, the corporate elevated their steerage for the approaching quarter because it sees income to hit $86.7 billion for the fourth quarter of FY26.
Meta
Meta shares have been the one outlier, with their shares plunging 6% within the prolonged buying and selling session, regardless of the income and web earnings being above the analyst estimates. The social media firm posted a income progress of 33% YoY to $56 billion and a web earnings of $26.9 billion. Nevertheless, investor sentiment soured as the full energetic person base, a vital metric tracked by analysts and buyers, witnessed a slight sequential decline.
AI capex on the roll
Aside from the sturdy quarterly earnings, the capex steerage was essentially the most extensively tracked metric by buyers and analysts as as buyers stay cautious on the tangible final result of those capital expenditure investments in AI infrastructure. Opposite to the bigger perception, the businesses appeared extra assured about AI and its associated spending with final result seen in newest earnings.
Microsoft Inc: Microsoft, spent $31.9 billion and realised $37 billion within the AI income on an annualised foundation run-rate. Consequently, it has pledged to spend $190 billion in AI for the complete 12 months in 2026.
Alphabet Inc: Google’s mum or dad firm, Alphabet, additionally introduced a hike in its annual expenditure for 2026 at $180-$190 billion, citing rise in AI-led computational demand.
Amazon Inc: The AI-led expenditure has yielded higher outcomes for the short commerce to cloud firm, Amazon Inc. Amazon spent $43.2 billion within the quarter because the AWS enterprise noticed 29% YoY progress to maintain tempo with broader trade development.
Meta Platforms Inc: The social media firm, which homes platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram and Fb, noticed AI capex improve by $10 billion from $115 billion and $135 billion to $125 billin and $145 billion in 2026. Nevertheless, buyers stay cautious about large AI spending as person progress stagnates.