Amazon stocks are soaring and Apple's are plunging after their reporting different situations at their respective results on Thursday. The former issued weak guidance for the third quarter, while the latter's cloud computing business saw the strongest expansion since 2021.
Apple's stock fell 7% after citing "supply constraints" even though its earnings, revenue and iPhone sales were above market expectations. The company noted that revenue growth will stand between 9% and 11%, below analysts' expectations that it would stand at 12%.
The company had briefly topped a $5 trillion valuation this week, becoming the second company ever to do so. However, it has been grappling with supply constraints, leading it to hike prices on MacBooks and iPads by more than 10% after CEO Tim Cook said chip costs were soaring.
Addressing the decision in a statement, the company said that "the consumer electronics industry is facing an unprecedented challenge" as the "rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage."
Amazon, in turn, reported that its cloud computing business saw the a 37% expansion, the largest since 2021. Its Amazon Web Services business has been closely watched as they represent most of its AI-related business. The company's stock climbed more than 10% after the results.
The stock climbed even after the company increased its capital expenditure forecast by 10%. It now expects it to hit $220 billion this year, compared to the previous guidance of $200 billion.
Other large companies have seen wild swings after their earnings report. Microsoft soared more than 15% after impressing Wall Street with stronger-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results, fueled by continued momentum in its cloud computing and AI businesses.
The software giant reported revenue of $90 billion, an 18% increase from a year earlier, while adjusted earnings reached $4.81 per share. Both figures topped analyst expectations, which had called for revenue of roughly $87.6 billion and earnings of $4.24 per share.
Azure, Microsoft's cloud platform and a key barometer of enterprise AI demand, posted 43% growth, outperforming forecasts and reinforcing investor confidence that businesses continue to expand spending on AI-powered cloud services.
Meta stood on the other end of the spectrum. Its stock plummeted almost 8% after raising the lower end of its 2026 capital expenditure forecast to between $130 billion and $145 billion, signaling that spending on AI infrastructure remains a top priority despite mounting investor concerns over the pace of investment.
The guidance increase came alongside another quarter of strong revenue growth, but shrinking free cash flow renewed questions about how quickly those investments can begin producing meaningful financial returns.
