Meta and Alphabet both missed third-quarter EPS estimates because of one-time charges: Meta booked a $9.89 billion legal settlement charge, and Alphabet an $8.7 billion loss on equity securities. Excluding Meta’s charge, EPS would have been $7.40 instead of $3.83, while revenue rose 26.1% to $64.60 billion as the average price per ad climbed 14%. Alphabet’s Google Cloud revenue rose 103% to $30.71 billion, with segment operating income of $11.12 billion. Both companies posted negative free cash flow as they spend heavily on AI infrastructure. The author argues Alphabet’s AI spending has a clearer payback, since customers already pay for its TPUs and cloud, while monetization of Meta’s Muse agent remains a plan.
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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 10/29/2026 | 283.75 |
| Change that session | -12.66% |
META
• NeutralMeta Platforms
Relevance: low
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Communication Services |
| Industry | Interactive Media & Services |
| Market cap | $1.7T |
| Close on 10/29/2026 | 624.54 |
| Change that session | +1.97% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
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