Wall Street rewards hyperscalers that fund AI expansion with their own cash and punishes those that borrow or sell stock to pay for it. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) trimmed its capex: fiscal first-quarter spending was $45.2 billion, partly because some third-party capacity deliveries slipped, with full calendar-year spending guided to about $170 billion. Its shares fell 4.7% over the past week to $507.12, less than Alphabet (down 12.1%) and Oracle (down 6.3%). Microsoft's operating cash flow rose 29% to $58 billion and free cash flow reached $18.6 billion, with Azure revenue up 48%. Alphabet posted negative free cash flow of $9.07 billion and raised $28.7 billion in notes and $12.4 billion through stock sales, while Oracle reported negative free cash flow of $5.40 billion and filed to sell new stock and bonds.
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▲ Likely positiveMicrosoft
Relevance: high
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Information Technology |
| Industry | Systems Software |
| Market cap | $3.9T |
| Close on 11/02/2026 | 507.12 |
| Change that session | -2.83% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
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