NEW YORK, April 26, 2026, 07:40 EDT
- Microsoft and Alphabet will deliver their results on Wednesday, once again spotlighting AI investments and cloud revenue as focal points in the ongoing U.S. stock surge.
- Microsoft last traded at $424.62, Alphabet at $344.40, and Oracle at $173.28, the latest quotes available as U.S. markets remained closed for the weekend.
- Analysts see Oracle with the clearest room to climb, while Microsoft faces a tougher earnings bar. Alphabet, having hovered near all-time highs, is drawing fewer bullish forecast upgrades.
Investors are zeroing in on Microsoft, Oracle, and Alphabet as the week kicks off, trying to figure out which AI cloud player warrants its hefty price tag now. Alphabet sits near all-time highs; Microsoft’s got the obvious earnings driver; Oracle, meanwhile, faces pointed questions on funding after securing new backing for that Michigan data-center campus tied to its AI bet.
The clock’s ticking. Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta all line up to report Wednesday, according to Reuters, and investors are zeroed in on how much these tech giants are shelling out for data centers and the backbone infrastructure behind artificial intelligence. This week, over a third of S&P 500 companies will drop their earnings, plus the Federal Reserve is meeting.
Microsoft shares traded up roughly 2.1% to $424.62, while Alphabet gained 1.6% at $344.40. Oracle slipped 1.7%, closing at $173.28. Alphabet’s market capitalization sat near $4.16 trillion, topping Microsoft’s $3.17 trillion. Oracle’s valuation came in around $505 billion.
Microsoft’s outlook holds steady on the bullish side, but expectations are now sharply defined. Out of 16 analysts tracked by Visible Alpha, 15 still call the stock a “buy,” Investopedia noted, with the average 12-month price target landing near $583. That’s where analysts see shares heading over the next year. Options contracts are implying a swing of roughly 6% in either direction following earnings. Investopedia
Bank of America’s Tal Liani zeroed in on Microsoft’s Azure, the tech giant’s cloud business. His group is calling for Azure to post 37.5% growth in constant currency this quarter, maintaining a buy rating and sticking with a $500 price target. Using constant currency removes the noise from exchange rates, highlighting the real growth.
Alphabet’s chart looks cleaner, but the margin for error might be slimmer. Traders are bracing for about a 5% swing after earnings, according to Investopedia. Visible Alpha data show 12 out of 14 analysts rate the stock a “buy,” with an average price target of $382—roughly 11% above where shares settled Friday. Citi bumped its target to $405 from $390, flagging Gemini engagement, advertising, and Google Cloud as key areas to watch. Investopedia
Bank of America’s Justin Post is sticking with his buy rating on Alphabet and holding firm on the $370 price target, according to TheStreet. Post argued a higher valuation is “reasonable vs history,” pointing to double-digit revenue growth prospects, expanding margins in cloud, and Alphabet’s opportunity to leverage its AI portfolio. TheStreet
Google dropped a fresh AI outlay into the mix for investors to consider. Alphabet plans to sink as much as $40 billion into Anthropic, according to Reuters on Friday—kicking things off with $10 billion in cash, and potentially layering on another $30 billion if the maker of Claude clears certain performance bars. Anthropic counts Amazon as a key backer, which keeps the rivalry for cloud, chips, and AI model scale tight.
Oracle doesn’t fit the usual mold. Wedbush’s Dan Ives kicked off coverage with an outperform, putting a $225 price target on the stock and arguing that the market is “fundamentally misinterpreting Oracle’s aggressive contract-backed investment cycle as speculative risk,” Oninvest reported, citing CNBC. That $225 figure suggests nearly a 30% jump from Oracle’s most recent price. Data from Investing.com put the wider analyst consensus higher—39 analysts averaged a 12-month target of $243.23 for Oracle. Oninvest
Oracle’s narrative has moved well beyond software profits. Reuters says Related Digital locked in financing for a $16 billion Michigan data-center campus for Oracle, with Related Digital and Blackstone affiliates putting up equity and PIMCO-managed funds leading the long-term debt piece. This is just one piece of a broader OpenAI, Oracle, and Related Digital initiative targeting over 1 gigawatt of AI infrastructure in Saline Township.
Anthony Saglimbene, Ameriprise’s chief market strategist, told Reuters the broad equity rally has moved fast: “We’ve come a long way in a short amount of time.” He’s looking to next week for confirmation. That’s what’s on the line for Microsoft, Alphabet, and Oracle. Microsoft has to prove Azure and Copilot demand is real. Alphabet’s got to show its AI push is paying off for both search and cloud. Oracle, meanwhile, faces questions about whether its aggressive, debt-fueled expansion is actually supported by signed contracts. Reuters
The risk swings both ways. Microsoft is staring down margin pressure and the threat of nimbler AI competitors, according to Bank of America’s Liani. Alphabet, meanwhile, could lose search share to AI-powered tools, get tangled in EU rules, and take a hit from ramped-up capital spending—especially on data centers and chips. Oracle’s situation looks more straightforward: higher debt, negative free cash flow—the money left after paying for long-term assets—and a stock price increasingly yoked to the fortunes of the OpenAI infrastructure cycle.
Strip away the noise, and the forecasts rank Oracle highest on upside, Microsoft square in the middle—though it’s working off the sharpest earnings reset—and Alphabet comes out ahead for strength, thanks to its narrow gap between projections and reality. What happens next isn’t about AI catchphrases; it’s about the data: cloud growth, capacity, margins, and just how quickly all that investment shows up as revenue.
