The Motley Fool·2026-02-19 04:05Core Viewpoint - The artificial intelligence (AI) boom is thriving, as evidenced by the latest earnings reports from major tech companies like Amazon and Alphabet, which indicate strong growth in their cloud computing segments driven by AI investments [1][2][3]. Company Summaries Amazon - Amazon's Q4 sales increased by 14% year over year to $213.4 billion, with its cloud computing segment, Amazon Web Services (AWS), reporting a 24% revenue growth to $35.6 billion, marking the fastest growth in 13 quarters [5][7]. - The company also saw broad-based financial momentum, with advertising revenue rising 23% to $21.3 billion, subscription services revenue increasing 14% to $13.1 billion, third-party seller services revenue up 11% to $52.8 billion, and online stores revenue climbing 10% to $83.0 billion [8]. - Amazon anticipates a strong long-term return on invested capital from approximately $200 billion in capital expenditures by 2026 [9]. Alphabet - Alphabet's Q4 revenue grew by 18% year over year, with its cloud computing segment, Google Cloud, experiencing a significant 48% revenue increase, up from 34% growth in Q3 [11]. - Despite its faster growth, Alphabet's business is more concentrated in advertising, with over 72% of its total Q4 revenue of about $114 billion coming from this segment [11]. - Alphabet's cloud business, while smaller in overall revenue contribution, is growing at a much faster rate compared to Amazon's, and the company benefits from higher-margin revenue streams [12]. Investment Considerations - Both Amazon and Alphabet are similarly valued, with Amazon's price-to-earnings ratio at 28.6 and Alphabet's at 28.1, making Alphabet a potentially higher-reward option due to its faster growth rate in cloud computing [14]. - Investors with a lower risk tolerance may prefer Amazon due to its more established business model, while those seeking higher returns might lean towards Alphabet [14].