Alphabet vs Apple: The Better Buy Before Earnings

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) reports Q2 aft the doorbell connected July 22. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) follows connected July 30.

Both delivered blockbuster past quarters: Google leaned into AI infrastructure and Cloud, portion Apple rode an iPhone 17 supercycle and a Services record. The setup makes this a uncommon infinitesimal to measurement 2 mega-caps moving precise antithetic playbooks.

Cloud AI Carries Google. iPhone 17 Carries Apple.

Google's Q1 FY2026 landed astatine $109.90 cardinal successful revenue, up 21.79% twelvemonth implicit year, with EPS of $5.11 versus a $2.6327 estimate. Cloud grew 63% to $20.03 billion, with backlog astir doubling 4th connected 4th to implicit $460 billion.

Sundar Pichai told investors, "Our AI investments and afloat stack attack are lighting up each portion of the business." Search grew 19%, and Gemini present processes 16 cardinal tokens per infinitesimal via nonstop API, up 60% from the anterior quarter.

Apple's March 4th came successful astatine $111.184 billion, up 16.6% YoY, with EPS of $2.01 against a $1.94 consensus. That is Apple's eighth consecutive EPS beat.

iPhone gross deed $56.99 cardinal connected iPhone 17 demand, Services acceptable an all-time precocious astatine $30.98 billion, and Greater China rebounded to $20.50 billion. Tim Cook called it "our champion March 4th ever".

Reinvesting Machine vs. Cash Return Engine

Google is spending arsenic if compute scarcity ne'er ends. CapEx much than doubled to $35.67 cardinal successful Q1, up 107.44% YoY, and 2026 guidance targets $175 cardinal to $185 billion. Free currency travel collapsed to $10.12 billion, down 46.63% — the tuition measure for industrial-scale AI.

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Apple runs the other play. It authorized a caller $100 cardinal buyback and raised its dividend 4% to $0.27. The installed basal sits supra 2.5 cardinal progressive devices, feeding Services' recurring flywheel. Gross borderline holds adjacent 46.9%.