New York, April 26, 2026, 07:43 EDT
Alphabet’s announcement that it could pour as much as $40 billion into Anthropic is adding fuel to the Meta-Google-Apple stock rivalry right before the trio steps up for earnings. Wall Street’s not debating the appeal of artificial intelligence anymore—it’s watching to see who can actually translate those AI investments into sales, profits, or both.
The schedule is tight. Meta Platforms and Alphabet both release earnings Wednesday, while Apple follows on Thursday—three giants packed into a brief reporting stretch. According to Reuters, over a third of the S&P 500 is set to announce results next week, and much of the market’s attention is zeroed in on what Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon are spending on data centers and AI infrastructure.
This isn’t shaping up like your typical earnings week; it’s more about whether the AI-fueled rally holds up. “Big week for confirmation of the rally,” is how Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise, put it, according to Reuters. Reuters
Meta shares last traded at $675.03, a 2.4% gain from the prior close. Alphabet Class A finished at $344.40, up 1.6%. Apple slipped, ending at $271.06, down 0.9%. All quotes reflect trades executed after Friday’s U.S. session, with the market shut for the weekend.
Meta stands out on Wall Street’s price targets, still offering the biggest implied upside. According to MarketBeat, analysts have pegged Meta’s average 12-month target at $837.09—about 23.92% above current levels. Apple’s consensus comes in at $303.06, or an 11.80% gain, while Alphabet’s sits at $369.67, up 7.34%. Of course, these targets are just analyst estimates, not guarantees, and part of the gap comes down to how much each stock has already climbed.
Meta stands out as the clearest margin play right now. The Facebook and Instagram parent is scheduled to post its first-quarter numbers after the bell on April 29. Earlier this month, Reuters reported the company is preparing to cut nearly 8,000 jobs—roughly 10% of its global staff—starting May 20, as Meta chases greater efficiency through its AI push.
AI scale and cloud demand are increasingly at the center of Alphabet’s story, nudging search ads out of the spotlight. The company has set its first-quarter earnings call for April 29 at 4:30 p.m. ET. Meanwhile, Reuters on Friday pointed to Google’s $10 billion cash commitment to Anthropic at a $350 billion valuation, and there’s another $30 billion possible, depending on performance targets.
Google shares could be headed for a sharper move than normal, with options markets implying swings of up to 5% either way before the week wraps up, according to Investopedia. Citi analysts, meanwhile, bumped their price target to $405 from $390.
Apple stands out as the straightforward consumer-hardware benchmark, though the outlook isn’t as clear-cut. According to Reuters, Apple’s quarterly results land April 30, right after the CEO transition made investors rethink what’s next for the tech giant. “Tim Cook did an amazing job,” said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments. Reuters
Rivalry is fierce. Microsoft and Amazon drop results in the same window as Meta and Alphabet, with Amazon’s Anthropic stake putting even more focus on AI muscle — chips, power, data centers, cloud deals. Capital expenditures, or capex, go into assets like data centers and servers that have staying power; investors are watching to see if those bets pay off.
The risk here isn’t hard to spot: disappointing earnings, or management ramping up capex without a corresponding jump in ads, cloud, iPhone, or AI revenues, could yank away the premium these stocks have been trading on. Reuters flagged next week’s setup—Federal Reserve decision, Iran conflict, energy prices—as a trio of threats that can quickly knock down high-flying growth names.
At this point, Meta leads on analyst-implied upside, while Apple’s projected range is narrower but steadier. Alphabet? It’s riding the newest AI catalyst. Stock action reflects the same themes, just less neatly: Google shares are on the move, Meta’s got the widest gap to those forecasts, and Apple still needs to show it’s not just rolling out another iPhone upgrade as its main growth story.
