Motley Fool Money Alphabet Soars While Meta Sinks
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Oct 30, 2025 
Join financial wizards Jon Quast and Matt Frankel as they dive into the rollercoaster world of corporate earnings. They discuss why Meta's ambitious AI spending rattled investors, contrasting it with Microsoft and Alphabet's mixed results. Their insights on Chipotle's struggle without Brian Niccol reveal a dip in restaurant margins, while Starbucks under his leadership shows a sharp rebound. It's an engaging take on how major companies are navigating the tumultuous landscape of AI investments and shifting leadership dynamics.
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Meta's Aggressive Overbuild Bet
- Meta plans to massively increase AI compute and capex, signaling it would rather overbuild than risk being under-resourced.
- That scale surprised investors because Meta said it still won't have enough capacity and expects spending to rise further in 2026.
Microsoft: Strong Results, Cost Questions
- Microsoft beat earnings with strong Azure growth but spooked investors by raising capex and signaling much higher 2026 spending.
- An Azure outage during the report worsened sentiment despite management claiming good ROI on AI infrastructure.
Alphabet's Measured AI Optionality Wins
- Alphabet delivered surprising growth across search and YouTube while raising capex modestly, showing disciplined spending versus peers.
- That measured approach and optionality into AI helped Alphabet rally while peers faded on aggressive spend announcements.