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Related tickers and likely impact
GOOGL
▼ Likely negativeAlphabet Inc. (Class A)
Relevance: high
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Communication Services |
| Industry | Interactive Media & Services |
| Market cap | $4.0T |
| Close on 10/28/2026 | 325.61 |
| Change that session | +1.57% |
META
▼ Likely negativeMeta Platforms
Relevance: low
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Communication Services |
| Industry | Interactive Media & Services |
| Market cap | $1.7T |
| Close on 10/28/2026 | 612.49 |
| Change that session | -1.24% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
Related news
- Ad Empires in the AI Crosshairs: Meta’s Massive Infra Spending vs. Google’s Search Defense
Meta and Alphabet both missed EPS estimates this month, with the shortfalls driven by items outside their ad businesses: a $9.89B legal charge at Meta and an $8.70B equity securities loss at Alphabet. Meta's revenue rose 26.1% to $64.60B on a 14% rise in average price per ad, while Google Cloud revenue rose 103% to $30.71B. Meta is building Muse, a personal AI agent that its CEO acknowledged is very compute-intensive to run, and aims to raise efficiency more than 10x within a year, with 2026 capex planned at $135-145B. Alphabet held its 2026 capex outlook steady but expects a significant increase in 2027, and it is raising cash through $28.7B in notes plus at-the-market stock sales, which means dilution. The author leans toward Alphabet because its Cloud customers are paying for capacity today, while Meta's case depends on Muse becoming a commerce platform.
- Meta and Google About to Run the Old Playbook Again, Will “Sell Space Inside Their Models.”
Former Stability AI CEO Emad Mostaque says Meta and Google will sell space inside their AI models, so that a request for beer could return a Bud Light recommendation. The article notes that ad revenue lets Meta and Alphabet give AI away free, while rivals that rely on paying developers must charge; Meta reported $201 billion revenue in 2025 at a 41% operating margin, and Alphabet's operating margin was 32%. According to the article, Meta's Muse launch post says conversations are kept out of its ad systems, even though Muse became the #1 free app and has paid plans at $20 and $100 a month. The article argues that putting ads inside answers is a much bigger step than placing ads beside search results and could make users doubt recommendations, and notes Meta reports third-quarter results this week.
- Meta and Google are about to have a consumer AI showdown
Meta (META) and Google (GOOG) are heading for a showdown over consumer AI assistants, a race to control the next dominant tech platform. Meta's Muse, which launched last month as the first popular AI agent for everyday users, has hit a download milestone, but cautious users may wait for Google or Apple (AAPL) given how much trust is needed for emails, calendars and wallets. Bank of America analysts said Google is well positioned with proprietary models, custom silicon and broad distribution, and a competitive agent or broader Gemini 4 launch could be catalysts. The two firms account for more than half of global digital ad revenue, yet AI agents could move users away from the screen-phone-app model that underpins those businesses.
- META, TTD, SNAP, GOOGL, BMBL, WDAY Stocks Get New UBS Targets Amid AI And Ad Shifts
UBS revised price targets on six digital advertising and software stocks. It raised Meta's target to $884 from $715, citing AI-driven revenue opportunities, and lifted Snap's to $7 from $5.70 with a Neutral rating, noting advertisers still aren't prioritizing it. The Trade Desk's target was cut to $15 from $16 on weaker budget allocation and advertiser shifts toward Amazon, while Workday's fell to $210 from $220 due to uncertainty beyond fiscal 2028. Alphabet's target rose slightly to $380 from $379 with a Neutral rating, and Bumble's rose to $6.05 from $3 after its agreement to be acquired by Ithaca Holdings for $6.05 per share in cash.
- Alphabet vs. Meta Platforms: Here's What Revenue Trends Tell Investors About These Media Giants Turned Artificial Intelligence Companies
Alphabet earns most of its revenue from digital advertising on Google search and video platforms, and between July and October 2026 it launched the Pixel 11 hardware series while facing a proposed antitrust remedy framework from the U.S. Department of Justice over its search business. Meta Platforms earns from targeted ads across its social media apps, and in the same period it debuted consumer Meta VR Glasses while the UK Office of Communications opened a formal investigation into the child safety assessment practices of its apps. The article notes both companies depend heavily on advertising, see revenue spikes in the fourth quarter, and are using AI in their ad platforms. Meta is projected to surpass Alphabet in advertising revenue for the first time in 2026, with global ad sales expected at $243.46 billion versus Google's projected $239.54 billion, a result the article says would validate Meta's AI automation investments.
- Why Alphabet (GOOGL) shares are sliding today
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares fell 12.1% in the morning session after third-quarter results showed slowing search advertising growth and surging AI capital expenditures. Revenue rose 25% to $127.58 billion, roughly in line with the $127.9 billion consensus, but diluted EPS of $2.12 missed the expected $3.02, partly due to an $8.7 billion loss on equity securities. Capital spending reached $51.36 billion, pushing free cash flow to negative $9.07 billion, and Google Search revenue grew 12% to $63.35 billion, below Street forecasts. CFO Anat Ashkenazi said capital spending will rise significantly next year from the current $195 billion to $205 billion guidance range, and the stock is now at $286.27, 28.9% below its 52-week high of $402.62.
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Latest news
- Alphabet Stock Drops 12%. Can Its Dividend Survive the AI Spending Boom?
Alphabet shares fell roughly 12% to around $285 after free cash flow turned negative for a second straight quarter, reaching negative $9.07 billion in the third quarter. Capital expenditure rose 114.4% year over year to $51.36 billion, above operating cash flow of $42.29 billion, mostly for AI infrastructure. The company pays a $0.22 quarterly dividend, which took about 6.9% of operating cash flow in the second quarter ($2.689 billion), and it holds $56.33 billion in cash. The gap is being filled by $28.7 billion in net proceeds from senior notes and new shares sold through an at-the-market program, while buybacks dropped to zero in the second quarter and the program was suspended. The article judges the dividend not at major risk for now, and says the next annual dividend decision is the key signal to watch.
- We're downgrading Alphabet after its rough quarter. Here's where we'd buy again
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq slipped on Thursday as post-earnings sell-offs hit technology stocks including Alphabet, ServiceNow and Fortinet. The CNBC Investing Club cut its Alphabet rating from 1 to 2 and lowered its price target to $350 from $400, but is keeping the position because of momentum in the Cloud business. The club said it would reassess if the price-to-earnings multiple falls from about 19x to the 17x-18x range and AI Mode monetization improves.
- Alphabet's Cloud Business Just Doubled. The Stock Fell 12%. Is it a Buy?
Alphabet reported third-quarter results after the close on Wednesday, and the stock fell about 10% in after-hours trading as earnings and revenue missed estimates amid heavy AI spending. Most of the earnings hit was an unrealized $8.7 billion loss on equity securities, mainly tied to its SpaceX investment, which cut EPS by $0.55, while operating income rose 30% to $40.6 billion. Google Cloud revenue more than doubled to $30.7 billion at a margin of about 36%, and its backlog reached $561 billion, up from $514 billion three months earlier. Search revenue grew 12%, down from about 17% in the second quarter, while capex of $51.4 billion pushed free cash flow to negative $9.1 billion and spending is expected to rise significantly in 2027. The author says investors are not yet convinced of the return on this spending, but that the stock's 21x forward earnings multiple after the decline may merit a closer look for long-term investors.
- Linde delivers a good quarter and puts in a fix for an overhang on the stock
Linde's third-quarter revenue rose 9.2% to $9.4 billion and adjusted EPS rose 9% to $4.59, beating LSEG consensus of $4.54 and setting quarterly records for sales, operating profit and earnings. Volume rose 2% and price/mix added 3%, while Electronics sales climbed 15% on AI infrastructure demand. Fourth-quarter guidance was slightly light and the shares fell more than 1% on the day; the author says profit-taking after the stock's recovery from a mid-September low could be another reason. The company booked a $425 million restructuring charge, about half for severance and the rest largely tied to Lincare, whose results will now sit in Other rather than the Americas. The author calls it an overall solid quarter, with a full-year outlook in line with expectations.
- Merck Lifts Outlook on a Lower Tax Rate: Rapid Earnings Reaction
Merck's third-quarter sales rose 5% to about $18.1 billion, but about $550 million of the gain came from the timing of customer purchases, and the article says sales barely grew without it. Keytruda Qlex sales reached $830 million, up from $463 million last quarter, and Winrevair sales rose 93% to $694 million, partly offsetting generic erosion of older drugs such as Januvia and Bridion, where Bridion sales fell 67%. GAAP EPS fell 12% to $2.04 and adjusted EPS fell 3% to $2.49, as spending on launches and research and higher interest expense outpaced sales, though a lower tax rate softened the hit. Merck lowered its non-GAAP tax-rate outlook to 32% to 33% from 35% to 36%, which the article says does much of the lifting in the raised full-year earnings outlook. Shares rose about 5% in Thursday morning trading, and the article flags fourth-quarter sales and Qlex's share of Keytruda sales, now nearly 10%, as items to watch.
- 70% of UPS Packages Will Be Handled by Machines This Holiday Season
UPS expects nearly 70% of packages during the holiday peak to pass through automated sorting inside its buildings, CEO Carol Tomé said on the Oct. 27, 2026 third-quarter call, while drivers still deliver every box. The company is shifting to a sensing network based on RFID tags, which are active at 315 customer locations and are expected to reach 6 million packages a day in 2027, replacing manual scans. A little over 100 U.S. customers account for about 80% of the peak, and fourth-quarter daily volume is expected to fall 1.3% year over year as UPS cut volume from Amazon. U.S. Domestic daily volume fell to 15.621 million pieces from 16.150 million, yet adjusted margin rose to 7.0% from 6.4%, even as cost per piece rose 5.5%. The article notes that dividend coverage is tight, with free cash flow guidance of about $6.1 billion against planned dividends of around $5.4 billion.
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