News · Yahoo Finance

The Cloud Titans: Microsoft's Copilot Backlog Challenges Amazon's Data Center Re-Acceleration

Microsoft reported revenue of $92.28 billion, up 18.8%, and adjusted EPS of $4.89 against a $4.72 estimate, with Azure growing 48% and commercial remaining performance obligation reaching $677 billion. Amazon's AWS revenue grew 37% to $42.23 billion, its fastest pace in 18 quarters, on a backlog of $496 billion. Microsoft expects calendar-year capex of about $170 billion, while its fiscal 2026 free cash flow fell 6.5% and Microsoft Cloud gross margin slipped to 66%. Amazon's 2026 cash capex estimate is about $220 billion, and its trailing free cash flow is negative at -$7.6 billion. Microsoft shares trade at $531.01 against an average target of $605.12 from 55 analysts, implying about 14% upside.

Summary written by Upside AI from the original article. Read the source for full details.

Original headline: The Cloud Titans: Microsoft’s Copilot Backlog Challenges Amazon’s Data Center Re-Acceleration

Read the original on Yahoo Finance ↗

Keywords

cloud computingdata centersAMZNMSFTearnings

Open a keyword to see other news on the same topic.

Related tickers and likely impact

AMZN

▲ Likely positive

Amazon

Relevance: low

MarketUS stocks
SectorConsumer Discretionary
IndustryBroadline Retail
Market cap$2.7T
Close on 10/28/2026254.65
Change that session+0.61%
AMZN price, forecasts and signals →

MSFT

▼ Likely negative

Microsoft

Relevance: low

MarketUS stocks
SectorInformation Technology
IndustrySystems Software
Market cap$3.9T
Close on 10/28/2026530.83
Change that session-0.09%
MSFT price, forecasts and signals →

Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.

Related news

  • Amazon Earnings On Deck After Rivals Microsoft, Google Post Strong Cloud GrowthYahoo Finance·▲ AMZN▲ GOOGL▲ MSFTAMZNMSFTGOOGL
  • Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have to justify the AI spending boom this week

    Google, Microsoft and Amazon report quarterly earnings this week, and the key question is how well their AI spending pays off compared with expected returns. These companies, which lead a week of results accounting for more than a third of S&P 500 earnings, face the same scrutiny Meta faced. Bank of America said hyperscalers' 2027 capex estimates have already been revised up by nearly 90% year to date. Competition for capital is intensifying as AI labs prepare large IPOs and businesses scale back AI spending and use cheaper models, making it more important to justify AI costs.

    Yahoo Finance·• AMZN• GOOGL• MSFTearningsAI investmentcloud computing
  • Hyperscalers Microsoft, Amazon Line Up With Earnings, Along With ServiceNow, IntelYahoo Finance·• AMZN• MSFTearningscloud computingMSFT
  • What Wall Street Expects from The Q3 Cloud and Infrastructure Scorecard: Microsoft Vs. Amazon

    Azure grew 43% and AWS 37% last quarter, and investors want proof that heavy AI spending is turning into revenue. Microsoft 365 Copilot passed 30 million paid seats, while Amazon's AI and chips businesses each passed $25 billion in annualized run rates. Microsoft's commercial remaining performance obligations rose 84% (25% without OpenAI), while its free cash flow fell 23.2% to $19.64 billion. Amazon's trailing 12-month free cash flow was negative $7.6 billion after $54.21 billion of capital spending in one quarter, and its $5.75 EPS included a $53.4 billion one-time gain tied mainly to its Anthropic stake. Microsoft's operating margin is 46.8% versus Amazon's 11.2%, and Amazon is expected to report on October 29.

    Yahoo Finance·• AMZN• MSFTMSFTAMZNcloud computing
  • Forget Alphabet and Microsoft: Is Amazon the smartest AI play ahead of earnings?

    Amazon (AMZN) is trading near $248 per share ahead of its upcoming earnings report, after guiding to $220 billion in capital expenditures this year to expand its AI data center footprint; the article argues the company can self-fund this from cash generated by its operations. In its latest quarter, revenue rose 20% year-over-year to $200.6 billion and operating income rose 43% to $27.5 billion; AWS grew 36.7% to $42.2 billion, while digital advertising rose 26% to $19.8 billion. Over the trailing twelve months, the company generated $161.4 billion in operating cash flow and $93.7 billion in operating income, and it is exploring moving about $8 billion of NVIDIA Grace Blackwell chips into a special purpose vehicle and leasing back the compute capacity. Analysts hold a consensus Buy rating with a median price target of $331.72, pointing to 34% upside from current levels.

    Yahoo Finance·▲ AMZNAMZNartificial intelligenceearnings
  • The Hidden $496 Billion Catalyst Waiting to Ignite Amazon Stock on Oct. 29

    Amazon reports third-quarter results after the bell on Thursday, Oct. 29, and the article highlights its $496 billion AWS backlog as the key item to watch for conversion into revenue. Last quarter, Amazon's revenue rose 19.6% to $200.61 billion, while AWS grew 37% to $42.23 billion, its fastest pace in 18 quarters, and GAAP EPS of $5.75 included a $53.4 billion pre-tax gain on Anthropic. Management raised its 2026 cash capex forecast to roughly $220 billion from about $200 billion, citing higher memory costs, and guided third-quarter net sales to $197.0 billion to $202.0 billion and operating income to $22.5 billion to $26.5 billion. The author also focuses on AWS margins, which expanded 650 basis points year over year, and on trailing free cash flow of negative $7.6 billion, while CEO Andy Jassy said capacity remains the constraint on meeting 2026 demand. Shares were at $248, up 7.44% year to date.

    Yahoo Finance·▲ AMZNAMZNearningscloud computing

Related markets

US stocks →

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.

    Yahoo Finance·▼ GOOGLGOOGLdividendsAI investment
  • US Gold Targets Debt-Funded $400M CK Gold Build as Financing Talks Advance

    Executive Chairman Luke Norman of US Gold says the company is advancing financing talks for its fully permitted CK Gold Project in Wyoming, targeting a predominantly debt-funded construction package of less than 400 million USD while keeping about 25 million USD in treasury for corporate needs. The project has a reported reserve of about 1.6 million gold-equivalent ounces with an 11-year mine plan, and management aims to raise annual output toward about 100,000 ounces, with all-in sustaining costs estimated at 1,700 to 1,800 USD per ounce. Construction would take about 18 months after financing is finalized, and management would like a definitive agreement around January, though none has been announced. The company is also considering separating its Keystone exploration project in Nevada into a standalone structure.

    Yahoo Finance·goldminingproject financing
  • 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.

    CNBC·▼ GOOGLGOOGLearningsvaluation
  • 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.

    Yahoo Finance·• GOOGLGOOGLcloud computingearnings
  • Is Lockheed Martin a Buy After Its Latest Earnings Report?

    Lockheed Martin shares have risen nearly 15% since last week's third-quarter results and are up 29% year to date, versus a 12% gain for the S&P 500. The company reported a record backlog of $292 billion, up 63% over the past four quarters from $179 billion, and raised its 2026 free cash flow expectation from a midpoint of $6.65 billion to $7.9 billion. Missiles and Fire Control (MFC) grew sales 24% and contributed nearly 29% of operating profit despite under 22% of revenue, while a seven-year PAC-3 contract is worth $58.6 billion. The stock trades at nearly 23 times trailing P/E versus 18 times for Northrop Grumman, and the author notes the market already prices in much of the expected growth. The author views the company as a growth story for long-term exposure to the defense sector and suggests watching for sustained sales growth that drives higher profit margins.

    Yahoo Finance·Lockheed Martindefenseearnings
  • Why Marvell Stock Is Down Today

    Marvell Technology shares fell 13.9% as of 2:44 p.m. ET on Thursday, October 29, after Bloomberg reported that the chipmaker is in advanced talks to acquire Lumentum, a maker of optical components for AI data centers. The report said an announcement could come as early as next week, though nothing has been finalized. Marvell has about $3.93 billion in cash and equivalents, and with Lumentum's $83 billion market cap, the deal is likely to be mostly stock, which would dilute existing shareholders. Marvell's optics acquisition last year was a smaller $3.5 billion deal that included $1 billion in cash. Meanwhile, Marvell's second-quarter revenue rose 37% to a record $2.74 billion.

    Yahoo Finance·Marvellsemiconductorsmergers and acquisitions

All news →

Get the briefing on Telegram or Zalo

Join the Upside Telegram channel or Zalo group for the Vietnam stocks and gold briefing at 8:00 and 19:00 (Vietnam time) on trading days, plus a weekly wrap on Saturday morning.