Meta beats estimates: +9% in after hours. Microsoft: Revenues up with Azure

With regard to the outlook, Meta indicated that it expects third quarter total revenues to be between USD 47.5 billion and USD 50.5 billion. The guidance assumes that the effect of foreign exchange represents a benefit of about 1% on year-on-year growth. In general, traders liked the numbers so much that - in after hours - the stock rose as much as +10%.

The field at Microsoft was also positive. The Redmond group exceeded Wall Street's estimates for revenues. These increased by 18 per cent to USD 76.4 billion in the April-June period. Analysts, according to data compiled by Lseg, were expecting an average of 73.81 billion. A strong boost came from cloud computing. Azure's turnover increased by 39 per cent, also exceeding Visible Alpha's forecast of a 34.75 per cent increase.

With regard to profitability, Microsoft achieved earnings per share of $3.65. The number, similarly to what happened at Meta, is higher than the estimates of the experts who expected $3.37.

Beyond the individual results, a common thread that can be picked up - also considering Alphabet - is precisely that of capital expenditure. At the beginning of 2025, there was much apprehension about such outlays. Many feared - and underneath still fear - that the monetisation associated with artificial intelligence would not be so immediate. Hence the caution, even in the face of multiples that are so stretched that - the slightest blurring of margins in the wake of even high investments - risks derailing the stock from the stock market race. So far, things do not seem to have gone badly. Put differently: the technology biggies have confirmed - or raised - the big Capex, convincing the market that they have their destiny well in hand. Time - a gentleman - will tell if this is really the case.

Not only that. Another cue that links - beyond individual company stories - the big tech's results so far is the computer cloud. Both the numbers of Google Cloud and those - even more so - of Microsoft, show the positive speed of the computer cloud. This is a dynamic which, on the one hand, reassures investors even more about the very demand for IT infrastructure that is the basis of their large investments; and which, on the other hand, may constitute a positive outlook on the growth of the Artificial Intelligence business.