New York, November 2nd / PRNewswire / -- Market Updates News and Reviews — Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon announced their third-quarter results last week. In the following trading day, the stock prices of these three companies varied from slight declines to double-digit drops. Now, market attention has shifted to consumer hardware: Apple will hold a fourth-quarter earnings call for the fiscal year 2026 this afternoon, while Qualcomm will announce its results on Wednesday. Qualcomm's largest source of revenue comes from its mobile phone business. The active companies with the latest developments this week include: Apple Inc. ( NASDAQ : AAPL ), Microsoft Corporation ( NASDAQ : MSFT ), Alphabet Corporation ( NASDAQ : GOOG ) ( NASDAQ : GOOGL ), Amazon.com, Inc. ( NASDAQ : AMZN ), and Qualcomm Incorporated ( NASDAQ : QCOM ).
According to the company's investor relations website, Apple's conference call to discuss fourth-quarter earnings is scheduled for Monday, November 2nd, at 2:00 PM (Pacific Time)/5:00 PM (Eastern Time). Investors will be comparing these results with the quarter in September 2025, when Apple reported revenue of $102.5 billion, a year-over-year increase of 8%, and an earnings per share of $1.85 after dilution.
Qualcomm stated that it will announce its financial results for the fourth quarter and the full year of fiscal 2026 after the close of trading on Wednesday, November 4th. The conference call will begin at 1:45 p.m. Pacific Time.
Last week's financial reports also showed how rapidly property and equipment expenditures have grown. In the quarter ending September 30, Microsoft's new property and equipment expenditures totaled $39.4 billion, a significant increase from $19.4 billion in the same period last year; Alphabet's property and equipment purchases reached $51.4 billion, up from $24 billion in the same period last year; Amazon's property and equipment purchases were $77.3 billion, an increase from $35.1 billion in the same period last year. Amazon stated that its net property and equipment purchases over the past 12 months increased year-over-year, mainly due to investments in artificial intelligence, and noted that it still expects cash capital expenditures for 2026 to be around $220 billion.
Component costs are another major theme that runs through the entire sector. In July, Qualcomm stated that input costs across all segments of the semiconductor industry were on the rise, from wafer manufacturing and advanced packaging to memory. The company is taking measures to reflect these higher costs in its product pricing. Amazon's performance guidance also mentioned that supply fluctuations, including those related to memory chips, could affect its results. Trade policies are also reflected in the data that has been released: of Apple's 50.1% gross margin in the June quarter, about 2 percentage points came from the favorable impact of tariff refunds.
With two hardware financial reports being released within three days, stock prices may experience significant gaps in either direction after the results are announced. The free guide " Knowledge is Power " provided by Stock Preachers can be obtained at market-updates.com. It explains how to understand the trading patterns after these financial reports before analyzing the charts.
Other industry developments and updates in the market this week include:
Apple Inc. ( NASDAQ : AAPL )
On July 30, Apple announced that its revenue for the third fiscal quarter of July amounted to $109.4 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16%; the diluted earnings per share were $2.02, a year-on-year increase of 29%, which included a favorable impact of $0.11 from tariff refunds. The call on Monday will also be Apple's first quarterly earnings conference since September 1, 2026. In April, Apple designated this day as the date when John Ternus ( John Ternus ) took on the role of CEO and Tim Cook ( Tim Cook ) became Executive Chairman.
Before the release of its financial report, Apple launched a product on October 28th that features a PROLED XDR display and is based on OLED technology; this also marked the first time Mac incorporated touch functionality. Pre-orders began on the same day, and shipping started on Friday, November 6th. The 14-inch model equipped with M5 Pro has a starting price of $2,899. Apple's stock price closed at $344.63 last Friday, a decrease of 1.23%.
Apple's Chief Hardware Officer, Johnny Sruji ( Johny Srouji ), stated: "The new MacBook Pro equipped with a PROLED XDR display screen is a huge step forward for Mac."
Microsoft Corporation ( NASDAQ : MSFT )
Microsoft announced on October 28 that its quarterly revenue as of September 30 was $92.3 billion, a year-on-year increase of 19%; operating profit grew by 21% to $45.9 billion. On a GAAP basis, diluted earnings per share were $4.92, a year-on-year increase of 32%; on a non-GAAP basis that does not include the impact of investments in OpenAI, diluted earnings per share were $4.89, a year-on-year increase of 18%. Microsoft's cloud revenue grew by 30% to $63.9 billion; Azure revenue increased by 48%; commercial remaining performance obligations grew by 73% to $677 billion. Revenue from the Devices and Consumer segments decreased by 3% to $15.5 billion, with revenue from Windows OEM and Devices declining by 22%. The stock closed at $530.14 on October 29, down 0.16%.
Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft ( Satya Nadella ), stated: "We are providing customers with stronger capabilities, more choices, greater control, and better cost efficiency across the entire technology stack."
Alphabet Company ( NASDAQ : GOOG ) ( NASDAQ : GOOGL )
Announced on October 28th, Alphabet, the consolidated revenue for the third quarter increased by 25% to $127.6 billion, marking the 13th consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth. Google Cloud Revenue soared by 103% to $30.7 billion, with the company stating that TPU system sales were a key driving factor; Google Services Revenue increased by 11% to $96.3 billion; Google Subscription, platform, and device business grew from $12.9 billion to $14.3 billion. Diluted earnings per share were $2.12, lower than the $2.87 from the same period last year; the company mentioned that a net loss of $8.7 billion from equity securities reduced diluted earnings per share by $0.55. Class A shares closed at $283.82 on October 29th, a decrease of 12.64%.
Google and Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, stated: "We had a strong performance this quarter, and our current revenue run rate has reached $500 billion."
Amazon.com ( NASDAQ : AMZN )
Amazon announced on October 29 that its net sales for the third quarter amounted to $201.9 billion, a year-on-year increase of 12%; the sales of the AWS segment grew by 39% to $46 billion. Operating profit increased from $17.4 billion to $28.1 billion, with an operating margin of 13.9%, which the company described as a record high. Net profit was $20.7 billion, and earnings per share after dilution were $1.89; in the same period last year, earnings per share after dilution were $1.95, which included pre-tax income of $9.5 billion from Anthropic investments. Amazon expects net sales for the fourth quarter to be between $240 billion and $247 billion, and operating profit to be between $28.5 billion and $33.5 billion. The stock closed at $240.35 last Friday, down 1.41%.
Amazon President and CEO Andy Jassy ( Andy Jassy ) stated: "Our investments in AWS in terms of functionality and infrastructure are beginning to pay off. Revenue in the third quarter increased by more than 39% year-over-year (equivalent to a revenue run rate of $184 billion), and we expect revenue growth to exceed 40% in both 2027 and 2028."
Qualcomm Corporation ( NASDAQ : QCOM )
Qualcomm will announce its financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026 after the market closes on Wednesday. In July, the company provided guidance for that quarter, estimating revenue to be between $9.7 billion and $10.5 billion, with earnings per share (EPS) after dilution at non-GAAP measures ranging from $2.05 to $2.25. For the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, which ended on June 28, revenue was $9.9 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 4%; EPS after dilution at GAAP measures was $1.87, and EPS after dilution at non-GAAP measures was $2.21. In its QCT chip business, mobile phone revenue declined by 20% to $5.09 billion, while automotive revenue grew by 61% to $1.59 billion. Qualcomm's stock price closed at $164.79 last Friday, down 11.12%.
Qualcomm President and CEO Cristiano Amon ( Cristiano Amon ) stated: "Despite the challenges in the storage and supply environment, our performance in the third quarter still reflects the solid execution of our growth strategy, with quarterly revenue at the upper end of the guidance range."
After last week's cloud business financial reports, the related stocks showed distinctly different trends, and this week's hardware performance may also quickly change the situation. You can obtain free Stock Preachers guidelines and The Roadmap market reports at market-updates.com to learn how to interpret these trading patterns.
Contact Information:
market-updates.com
Media contact: [ email protected ]
This article is an independent news commentary. Market Updates is wholly owned and operated by Market Equities Limited (“MEL”), which is a company registered under Irish law. MEL has not received any compensation from any of the companies mentioned in this article. MEL and its owners, operators, directors, and related parties currently do not hold any shares in the companies mentioned in this article, but retain the right to buy and sell such shares at any time without prior notice, and will do so if appropriate. Company performance and schedules are based on announcements and investor relations pages published by each company, including those issued by Apple on July 30, 2026; October 30, 2025; April 20, 2026; and October 28, 2026; Microsoft and Alphabet on October 28, 2026; Amazon on October 29, 2026; and Qualcomm on July 29, 2026, and October 22, 2026. Stock prices refer to the daily closing prices on October 29 and October 30, 2026, and data is from stockanalysis.com (S&P P Global Market Intelligence data). Guidance and forward-looking statements reflect the expectations of each company as of the respective dates and may change. Information is sourced from company press releases and documents, government and industry data, published reports, and third-party data, all of which are considered reliable, but no guarantee is provided for their accuracy. Investing in securities involves risks, including the potential loss of part or all of the investment. This article is governed by Irish law.
SOURCE Market Updates
