Earnings this week, Oct 26–30: Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon

Microsoft and Alphabet report third-quarter results after the close on Wednesday, Oct 28, with calls at 5:30 pm ET and 4:30 pm ET. Amazon follows after the close on Thursday, Oct 29, with its call at 5:00 pm ET. All three fall between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday evening, the same stretch that brings the Federal Reserve's rate decision, the first estimate of third-quarter GDP and September's inflation data.

It is the busiest week of the season. Twenty large US companies report between Monday morning and Friday morning, from Verizon to Exxon Mobil. For the cloud giants, the number most people will look for is how much more they spent on data centers. Meta has already given its answer for the quarter.

All times below are US Eastern. Every estimate is the StockFit consensus EPS, with the number of analyst estimates behind it, as of Oct 25, 2026. Other sites use other analyst pools, so their figures can differ. How we source and date numbers.

When do Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon report earnings?

• Microsoft (MSFT): Wednesday, Oct 28, after the close. This is fiscal 2027's first quarter (July to September). Microsoft says the webcast starts at 2:30 pm Pacific, which is 5:30 pm ET (Microsoft). StockFit consensus EPS: $4.71 (14 estimates).
• Alphabet (GOOGL): Wednesday, Oct 28, after the close. Call at 1:30 pm Pacific, 4:30 pm ET. One report covers both share classes, GOOGL and GOOG. StockFit consensus EPS: $2.94 (14 estimates).
• Amazon (AMZN): Thursday, Oct 29, after the close. Call at 2:00 pm Pacific, 5:00 pm ET (Amazon). StockFit consensus EPS: $2.01 (14 estimates).

Where each one stood last quarter, in the companies' own words:

• Microsoft (quarter to June 30): Azure and other cloud services revenue grew 43%, and Microsoft Cloud revenue reached $59.3 billion, up 27% (8-K).
• Alphabet (Q2): revenue grew 24%, and Google Cloud revenue grew 82% to $24.8 billion (8-K).
• Amazon (Q2): for the third quarter it guided to net sales of $197.0 to $202.0 billion and operating income of $22.5 to $26.5 billion. Prime Day fell in a different quarter this year, and Amazon said growth excluding Prime Day in both years would be "nearly 400 basis points higher" (8-K).

Earnings calendar for Oct 26–30, by day

"Before open" means before the 9:30 am ET opening bell, and "after close" means after the 4:00 pm close. Report timing comes from StockFit. Call times come from each company's own announcement. "Est. EPS" is the StockFit consensus, with the number of estimates in brackets.

Monday, Oct 26

Tuesday, Oct 27

Wednesday, Oct 28

Thursday, Oct 29

Friday, Oct 30

A few of these numbers need more context than a table cell can hold:

• Two estimates are losses. Boeing's and Coinbase's StockFit estimates are below zero, shown with a minus sign. A smaller loss than expected is still a loss.
• Lilly's estimate rests on only three analysts. Published estimates for Lilly vary widely this quarter, partly because the company includes acquired in-process R&D charges in its adjusted EPS. Those charges can be large and are hard to predict.
• Merck's estimate is on an adjusted basis. Merck's GAAP EPS was a loss in each of the first two quarters of 2026 (StockFit), so compare its result with the adjusted figure, not the GAAP line.
• Fiscal quarters differ. For Visa and Starbucks this is the fourth quarter of their fiscal year, and for Microsoft it is the first.

How much are the hyperscalers spending on capex?

This is the thread that ties the week together. The table shows what each company spent on property and equipment each quarter, mostly servers, data centers and network gear, as reported on its cash-flow statement.

Source: StockFit, from the companies' 10-Q and 10-K filings, as of Oct 25, 2026. "Purchases of property and equipment" on the cash-flow statement, which excludes finance leases. Microsoft's fiscal quarters are shown by the calendar quarter they end in.

Year over year, Microsoft's spending in the June quarter was 2.1 times its level a year earlier. Alphabet's was 2.0 times, Amazon's rose 68%, and Meta's September quarter rose 80% (our calculations from the table). The year-ago comparisons for this week's reports are $19.39 billion for Microsoft, $23.95 billion for Alphabet and $35.10 billion for Amazon.

Spending at this pace has eaten into cash. Free cash flow, here operating cash flow minus the purchases in the table, was −$1.16 billion at Meta in the September quarter. In the June quarter it was −$5.86 billion at Alphabet, −$8.82 billion at Amazon and +$19.64 billion at Microsoft (StockFit). Microsoft was the only one of the four still positive in its latest quarter on this measure.

Meta has already set the reference point. On Oct 21 it reported third-quarter capital expenditures of $34.91 billion and free cash flow of negative $2.12 billion (8-K). It also narrowed its 2026 capex outlook to $135 to $145 billion. Those figures are higher than the $33.94 billion in the table because Meta's own definition adds principal payments on finance leases ($0.96 billion in the quarter). Both numbers are correct. They measure slightly different things, so compare like with like when the others report.

Why last quarter's EPS is a poor guide this week

Check which EPS a headline compares. Last quarter, investment gains inflated GAAP earnings per share at all three companies reporting this week:

• Alphabet's Q2 EPS was $9.11. Its other income included a net gain of $98.0 billion, "primarily the result of net unrealized gains on our equity securities". Alphabet says the gain on equity securities added $6.26 to diluted EPS.
• Amazon's Q2 EPS was $5.75. Net income included "non-operating pre-tax other income of $53.4 billion, primarily from our investments in Anthropic."
• Microsoft reported GAAP EPS of $4.81 and non-GAAP EPS of $4.74. Its non-GAAP results exclude the impact of its investments in OpenAI. The quarter also included "a $3.2 billion gain from our investment in Anthropic".

Without the $6.26, Alphabet's Q2 EPS would have been about $2.85, which is much closer to this quarter's StockFit estimate of $2.94 than the headline $9.11 is. Gains like these depend on the value of stakes in other companies and are hard to forecast. Analysts don't all treat them the same way, and this time the gains could be smaller, larger or reversed. When a headline says a company "beat" or "missed", check whether it compares GAAP EPS, adjusted EPS or operating income. Our guide on how to read an earnings report explains the difference.

Sources: the companies' second-quarter releases, filed with the SEC on Form 8-K (Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft).

Amazon's last five reported quarters show how far operating income and net income can drift apart. Operating income rose from $19.2 billion in the second quarter of 2025 to $27.5 billion in the second quarter of 2026, with a dip to $17.4 billion in the third quarter of 2025. Net income more than doubled in the second quarter of 2026 alone, from $30.3 billion in the first quarter to $62.6 billion, and most of that jump came from below the operating line.

Amazon: last five quarters, from SEC filings

Quarter	Revenue ($B)	Operating income ($B)	Net income ($B)	Diluted EPS (GAAP, $)
Q2 2025	167.7	19.2	18.2	1.68
Q3 2025	180.2	17.4	21.2	1.95
Q4 2025	213.4	25.0	21.2	—not available
Q1 2026	181.5	23.9	30.3	2.78
Q2 2026	200.6	27.5	62.6	5.75

Most of that gap comes from the $53.4 billion of non-operating pre-tax income quoted above, mainly from Amazon's investments in Anthropic. Operating income leaves out gains like these, which is why it moved far less. Diluted EPS follows net income, so it carries the same gains: $5.75 in the second quarter of 2026, against $2.78 a quarter earlier.

Charges can move EPS the other way. Meta's third-quarter EPS of $3.83 came after a $9.9 billion charge related to legal proceedings.

What else is on the calendar: Fed, GDP and inflation data

• Tue–Wed, Oct 27–28: Federal Open Market Committee meeting (Fed calendar). At its last meeting, on Sep 16, the committee voted 12–0 to raise the federal funds target range by a quarter point, to 3¾–4% (Fed statement). The statement usually comes out at 2:00 pm ET on the final day, a couple of hours before Microsoft and Alphabet report.
• Thu, Oct 29, 8:30 am: GDP (advance estimate) for the third quarter, and personal income and outlays for September, which includes the PCE price index (BEA). Both come out before the open on the day Amazon, Mastercard, Lilly and Caterpillar report.
• Fri, Oct 30, 8:30 am: Employment Cost Index for the third quarter (BLS). The October jobs report comes the following week, on Nov 6.

Who already reported

• Meta (META), Oct 21: revenue of $64.60 billion, up 26%, and diluted EPS of $3.83 after the $9.9 billion legal charge. Capex and free cash flow are covered above. It guided fourth-quarter revenue to $73 to $76 billion (8-K).
• Tesla (TSLA) reported on Oct 21, after the close.
• UnitedHealth (UNH), Oct 13: revenue of $112.7 billion, and EPS of $4.56, or $4.69 adjusted. It raised its 2026 adjusted EPS outlook to at least $20.50 (UnitedHealth).

Just after this week: Apple, Palantir, AMD

US daylight saving time ends on Sunday, Nov 1, so the times below are EST.

• Mon, Nov 2, after the close: Apple (AAPL), with its fiscal fourth quarter and a call at 5:00 pm EST, and Palantir (PLTR).
• Tue, Nov 3, before the open: Pfizer (PFE), and Shopify (SHOP), with a call at 8:30 am EST.
• Tue, Nov 3, after the close: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), call at 5:00 pm EST; Amgen (AMGN), 4:30 pm EST; and Booking Holdings (BKNG), 4:30 pm EST.

We'll publish estimates for these with next week's calendar, from a fresh pull, so they aren't a week old.

Reading this from outside the US?

Europe's clocks went back on Sunday, Oct 25, one week before the US switch. This week only, New York is four hours behind London, not five (and five hours behind Central Europe instead of six). Microsoft's 5:30 pm ET call is at 9:30 pm in London. From Nov 2 the usual gap returns.

Why do EPS estimates differ between sites?

Each data provider averages a different group of analysts, and the analysts update on different days. Some estimates are on a GAAP basis and some exclude items such as acquisition costs or investment gains. That is why we always show the number of estimates next to each figure and the date we pulled it. A figure based on 3 analysts is a much thinner signal than one based on 14.

Follow the week

We'll cover the biggest reports as they come in. To follow along, subscribe to the earnings RSS feed or a feed for one company: MSFT, GOOGL or AMZN.