By Greg Bensinger and Deborah Mary Sophia Feb 5 (Reuters) - Amazon on Thursday projected a surge of more than 50% in capital expenditures this year, joining its peers in a spending spree to build out artificial-intelligence infrastructure, and sending its shares down 11.5% in after-hours trading. As the shares sputtered on news that Amazon ​would be pumping $200 billion into boosting its AI efforts in 2026, CEO Andy Jassy struck a defensive tone during the company's call with investors, a contrast to the ...

Core Viewpoint - Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) reported fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that exceeded consensus estimates, driven by strong cloud computing revenue, although YouTube ad revenue fell short of expectations [1] Group 1: Earnings Performance - Fourth-quarter earnings and revenue surpassed consensus estimates, indicating robust performance in key areas [1] - Cloud computing revenue significantly exceeded expectations, highlighting the growing momentum in this segment [1] - YouTube ad revenue missed expectations, suggesting potential challenges in advertising revenue streams [1] Group 2: Capital Expenditure and Market Reaction - Google announced a substantial increase in capital spending aimed at enhancing its leadership in artificial intelligence, which is expected to impact free cash flow negatively [1] - Following the earnings report, Google stock experienced a decline as Wall Street reacted to the increased capital spending plans [1]

Core Insights - Alphabet's quarterly report highlights its strong market position, showcasing durable growth and competitive advantages across various business segments [1][2][4] Financial Performance - Alphabet reported a revenue increase of 18%, with annual sales exceeding $400 billion for the first time, driven by digital advertising, cloud computing, and AI initiatives [2] - The Search segment experienced a 17% growth, indicating that generative AI is enhancing user engagement rather than disrupting the core business [8][9] - Google Cloud achieved a remarkable 48% growth rate, indicating strong enterprise demand tied to AI workloads [10] Strategic Investments - The company has outlined an aggressive spending plan for AI infrastructure, with capital expenditures projected between $175 billion and $185 billion for 2026, reflecting its commitment to leading in AI development [3][13] - Alphabet's balance sheet remains strong, although it has taken on approximately $25 billion in additional debt to support its growth initiatives [14] Market Positioning - Alphabet has transitioned from being viewed as an undervalued opportunity to a premium stock, trading at around 30.1x forward earnings, which is competitive compared to peers like Nvidia and Apple [6] - The company has outperformed most of its "Magnificent Seven" counterparts, indicating a strong competitive position in the technology sector [5] Business Segments - YouTube has generated over $60 billion in annual revenue, with 325 million paid subscriptions, showcasing the strength and durability of Alphabet's ecosystem [12] - The Gemini app has gained traction with approximately 750 million monthly active users, processing around 10 billion tokens per minute through its API, highlighting Alphabet's advancements in generative AI [11]

All eyes will be on Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud business when the technology giant reports earnings on Thursday, after shares of Microsoft Corp. plunged last week due in part to slowing growth at its key cloud-computing platform. This was not an issue for Amazon’s October earnings, as its shares jumped almost 10% following better than expected revenue from Amazon Web Services, also known as AWS. Now, however, fear is rippling through the tech sector, and Amazon investors are increasingly concerned that the sl ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania--(Newsfile Corp. - February 5, 2026) - National plaintiffs' law firm Berger Montague PC announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against CoreWeave, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWV) ("CoreWeave" or the "Company") on behalf of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired CoreWeave securities during the period from March 28, 2025 through December 15, 2025 (the "Class Period"), inclusive.Investor Deadline: Investors who purchased CoreWeave securities during the Class Period may, no l ...

Group 1: Earnings Expectations - Amazon is expected to report fourth-quarter earnings with an earnings per share of $1.97 and total revenue of $211.33 billion [4] - Analysts anticipate Amazon Web Services (AWS) revenue to reach $34.93 billion and advertising revenue to be $21.16 billion [4] Group 2: Cloud Revenue Growth - Cloud revenue growth is a major focus, with a previous quarter growth of 20.2%, up from 18%, and analysts predicting a 21.4% growth for the fourth quarter [1] Group 3: AI Investments and Cost-Cutting - Amazon plans to increase capital expenditures on artificial intelligence, projected to hit $125 billion in 2025, while also cutting costs by laying off approximately 16,000 employees [2] - The layoffs are part of a strategy to reduce bureaucracy and enhance innovation, aiming to operate like a "world's largest startup" [3]

Industry Overview - Cloud computing is a crucial and rapidly growing sector of the digital economy, projected to grow from $752 billion in 2024 to over $2.3 trillion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate exceeding 20% [2] - The rise of generative AI is driving demand for cloud capacity, as training large AI models requires significant computing power and data storage, making cloud adoption essential for businesses [3] Investment Perspective - Cloud companies benefit from attractive business models, often operating on subscription or SaaS models that provide recurring, high-margin revenue streams [4] - High switching costs create competitive advantages, as enterprises are often locked into specific cloud ecosystems, making it costly to switch providers [4] - The long-term fundamentals of the cloud sector remain strong, supported by trends in AI, digital transformation, and recurring revenue, despite fluctuations in valuations and market sentiment [4] Stock Selection Methodology - A list of 13 high-growth cloud stocks was compiled based on revenue growth exceeding 35% over the past five years, ranked by revenue growth [7] - Hedge fund sentiment was included for each stock, sourced from Insider Monkey's database as of Q3 2025, indicating interest from institutional investors [7][8] Company Highlights Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) - Reported Q3 fiscal 2026 revenue of $191 million, reflecting a 25.5% year-over-year growth and a 6% sequential increase, with 106 net new customers added in the quarter [11][12] - Despite a cautious valuation sentiment in the software sector, Braze's consistent revenue growth and improving customer acquisition trends position it well in the customer engagement landscape [12] Datadog, Inc. (NASDAQ:DDOG) - Achieved a 3-year revenue growth of 37.67% and reported record new logo annualized bookings, more than doubling year over year, indicating strong demand for its observability platform [13][14] - Datadog's expanding product suite and strong cross-sell capabilities position it favorably to capture a larger share of customer spending, even amid macroeconomic pressures [15][16]

Core Viewpoint - Amazon's stock has been trading sideways, down 3% in 2026 and 6% over the last year, with a 13% decline from its all-time high in November [1] Earnings Expectations - Earnings per share (EPS) is expected to be $1.98, a 5% increase year-over-year, and about three cents better than the previous quarter [3] - Revenue is projected at $211.46 billion, reflecting a 13% year-over-year increase [4] - Amazon Web Services (AWS) revenue is anticipated to reach $34.9 billion, a 21% increase from the same quarter last year [4] - Online store sales are expected to hit $82.3 billion, up approximately 9% [4] - Advertising revenue is forecasted to be $21.2 billion, showing significant growth from $17.3 billion in Q4 of 2024 [4] Capital Expenditure (Capex) Insights - Capex is expected to be a key focus, with projections of $34.9 billion for the quarter, up from $34.2 billion in the previous quarter [5][6] - The CFO indicated plans to spend $125 billion in 2025, with continued increases in 2026 to meet AI demand [6] Restructuring and Layoffs - Amazon announced the layoff of 16,000 employees and the closure of Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores, indicating potential restructuring [7] Market Sentiment and Volatility - The market is anticipating a 7% move in Amazon's stock following the earnings report, with increased volatility expected [14] - A cautious approach is being taken by investors, with some looking to buy on dips [9][13]

Core View - Jefferies analyst Thomas Chong has lowered the price target for Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) to $225 from $231 while maintaining a Buy rating, emphasizing the company's growth potential in artificial intelligence and cloud computing [1][3] Financial Performance - For the second quarter of fiscal 2026, Alibaba reported a 15% year-over-year increase in total revenue, driven by a 10% increase in China e-commerce Customer Management Revenue and a 34% rise in Cloud Intelligence revenue [3] - AI-related product revenues have grown at a triple-digit pace for the ninth consecutive quarter, with external customer revenue accelerating by 29%, indicating strong monetization of Alibaba's AI and cloud capabilities [3] Company Overview - Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Hangzhou, China, Alibaba operates one of the world's largest digital commerce and cloud ecosystems, connecting U.S. businesses with over 40 million global B2B buyers through Alibaba.com [4]

Core Insights - Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein raised Amazon's price target to $315 from $305, maintaining an Outperform rating, reflecting increased confidence in Amazon Web Services (AWS) and forecasting FY26 AWS revenue growth of 24% compared to the Street's 21% expectation [1] - Amazon is viewed as a top mega-cap opportunity, supported by improving fundamentals in both its cloud and core commerce businesses, with significant margin expansion in its e-commerce segment due to automation investments [1][4] - Saks Global plans to end its e-commerce partnership with Amazon and close the Saks on Amazon storefront, a decision driven by Saks' focus on segments with greater long-term growth potential, not indicating a broader strategic shift at Amazon [3] Company Overview - Amazon.com, Inc. is a global technology leader founded in 1994, with operations in e-commerce, cloud computing through AWS, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence [4] - The company is well-positioned for earnings and cash flow growth, with accelerating AWS growth, visible margin expansion from automation, and long-term cost efficiency opportunities [4]