Google, Meta, and Microsoft reported Q1 earnings this week, and they were all fiery. Meta had a tough go, Google had a great report, and Microsoft had a great report. I will review their earnings and assess them.

     First up to the plate is Google. Google has taken a few blows to the chin recently. Some media companies were putting up reports about general frustration in the market being directed at Pichai, which can crescendo quickly into rumors of an approaching “mutual parting of ways.” If you are Pichai, you do not want that process to begin, so I assumed he would try to pull out all the stops for their earnings report. And he did.

            Fortunately for him, Pichai did not have to work too hard, as the company beat on sales, profit, and advertising predictions while expanding their AI spending to about $50 billion annually, which is about $137 million per day. And I should have seen this coming as the logical move, but Google has decided to give out a dividend. If you read my articles, you know I am not a dividend lover, but I am actually fine with a Google dividend here as long as it does not make them complacent. Google had so much cash on hand, about $120 billion, and the FTC was not going to let them make a major purchase, so a dividend was not the worst move. And Google cut down on its employee headcount, which is not always a good thing, but Google had been hiring way too many people.

            A 9/10 quarter. I am not the biggest Google lover, but this was very good. My only fear, the only reason this was not a 10/10 quarter is because I would have liked to see concrete advancements in AI, rather than we’re going to get to concrete AI with billions and billions dumped into spending, but my hope was probably unrealistic. Great quarter for Google, but Pichai is still a mediocre CEO.

            Next up is Microsoft. I LOVE MICROSOFT SO MUCH. What another great quarter for Microsoft. A 17% increase in revenue and a 20% increase in profits in inSANE for the largest company in the world. And Microsoft made all of that money while spending $14 billion in one quarter on AI. Azure saw revenue increase by 31% with AI-related tools accounting for 7% of that growth. Office products saw a 13% increase in revenue and total cloud revenue was up 23%.

            This is just the tip of the iceberg for AI, and I am unbelievably confident in Microsoft. This was probably a 10/10 quarter for Microsoft. I cannot find a fault in their earnings.

            Okay, Meta is up now. First, I want to say that whatever PR firm Mark Zuckerberg is using needs a raise. They have been crushing it. Mark has gotten himself out of the most hated individuals tier occupied by Elon Musk, Jim Cramer, and Cathie Wood, and has moved himself down into the slightly less hated tier occupied by himself, Coach K, and all Arsenal fans/players. Nothing has changed about him except for the vibes. I think it is just he has been out and talking to the public like a real human, and it is working on me. His groovy voodoo is working.

            Anyways, the market did not appreciate Meta’s earnings, which I think may have been the incorrect lesson to take. Sales increased by 27% since this point a year earlier, revenue growth was up to 25%, and it seems like investors do not understand the Meta playbook. Investors seemed most displeased with the AI costs Meta plans to rack up this year. Meta is probably going to make a billion less in the next quarter because of AI costs, but who cares? Meta does this all the time where they spend a lot on something and then they monetize effectively. They have done it a ton with Instagram, and I see no reason why they cannot do it again. All the numbers were up this quarter, and it is insane that investors cannot see the forest for the trees.

            Overall, I would say that Meta had an 8/10 quarter. All the numbers were strong, and while I wish they did not have to lower revenue guidance, it is necessary to build out their AI capabilities. I am in the process of coming all the way back around on Meta, which feels…wrong.

            I believe the market only got Meta’s earnings wrong. Really, I am feeling pretty pretty pretty good (Curb) about all these companies after this quarter.