Alphabet Tanks on Disappointing Sales, Microsoft Gains, FedEx Slips

Today's biggest gainers and decliners in the stock market.

 
On this episode of Stock Movers, hosts Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec talk about some of the day's biggest gainers and decliners from the Schwab IMPACT event in Boston:

• Alphabet (GOOGL) posted disappointing sales from most of its core businesses in the third quarter, escalating investors’ concerns about the hundreds of billions of dollars that the company is spending on artificial intelligence. The Google owner said sales, excluding partner payouts, were $111.2 billion for the three months that ended Sept. 30, slightly missing analysts’ projections. The company’s advertising revenue, which it depends on to fund AI investments, totaled $82 billion, below estimates of $83.6 billion. Sales from its search and related businesses also missed forecasts. The stock fell in late trading as much as 11%.
• Microsoft (MSFT) reported better-than-expected cloud revenue, suggesting the company continues to reap the benefits of its massive investment in artificial intelligence. Sales at Azure, the closely watched cloud computing division, grew 48% to $33.2 billion during the quarter ending in September, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Overall revenue increased 19% to $92.3 billion. Analysts were looking for 44% sales growth at Azure and 17% total revenue growth. The shares rose about 2.5% in extended trading after closing at $531.01. Microsoft’s stock had gained 36% since it last reported earnings on July 29.
• FedEx (FDX) raised its profit and sales guidance for the year, another promising sign for parcel carriers heading into the all-important holiday shipping season. The improved outlook is a boon for the company’s ongoing network overhaul and suggests shipping demand is holding strong heading into the busy year-end months, despite high prices and economic volatility. FedEx echoed rival United Parcel Service Inc., which raised its sales and profit outlook earlier this week. While the report was broadly positive, the stock was down in postmarket trading, possibly reflecting confusion around a change in FedEx’s reporting calendar that made it difficult to compare with analyst estimates.

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