Alphabet fell 10.49% to $290.81 and Microsoft rose 2.78% to $545.78 in premarket trading on October 29, 2026, even though both reported results the same evening and are spending heavily on AI infrastructure. Alphabet's search revenue of $63.35 billion fell short of the $64.85 billion consensus, while Google Cloud revenue jumped 103% to $30.71 billion. Alphabet's capital expenditures of $51.36 billion exceeded its $42.29 billion operating cash flow, with the gap covered by $28.7 billion in senior notes and at-the-market stock sales. Microsoft, by contrast, posted fiscal first-quarter cloud revenue of $63.9 billion and free cash flow of almost $19 billion, while Alphabet's free cash flow was negative $9.1 billion. The article argues that free cash flow is becoming the key yardstick for comparing the two companies.
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GOOGLMSFTfree cash flowcloud computing
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Related tickers and likely impact
GOOGL
• NeutralAlphabet Inc. (Class A)
Relevance: low
| 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% |
MSFT
• NeutralMicrosoft
Relevance: low
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Information Technology |
| Industry | Systems Software |
| Market cap | $3.9T |
| Close on 10/28/2026 | 530.83 |
| Change that session | -0.09% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
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