The 2024 Q4 earnings season is nearing its end, with just a small chunk of S&P 500 members yet to reveal their quarterly results.
As usual, the Mag 7 received much attention again, with their massive earnings power and growth remaining a big driver behind positivity overall. Cloud results were a big focus, with Alphabet GOOGL, Microsoft MSFT, and Amazon AMZN reflecting the notable players.
Let’s take a closer look at the results.
Microsoft
Concerning headline figures in its release, Microsoft posted adjusted EPS of $3.23 and sales of $69.6 billion, reflecting growth rates of 10% and 12%, respectively. Both items exceeded our consensus expectations.
Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud results were an important focus point in the release, including the Azure cloud computing platform. Intelligent Cloud revenue of $25.5 billion reflected a 19% move higher from the year-ago period.
As shown below, Intelligent Cloud results have regularly fallen short of our consensus expectations over recent periods, contrasting the beats we saw primarily throughout 2023 and some of 2024.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Alphabet
Concerning headline figures in GOOGL’s release, EPS soared 31% year-over-year alongside a 12% sales increase, with both items exceeding consensus estimates. Impressively, the company has exceeded consensus expectations in eight consecutive quarters.
Google Cloud revenue of $11.9 billion fell short of our consensus estimate by roughly 1.5%, also reflecting the company’s first miss on the metric in several periods. Sales grew by a solid 30% year-over-year.
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Amazon
Cloud titan Amazon posted strong headline growth in its release, with EPS soaring 85% year-over-year on the back of an 11% sales bump. The company’s AWS results have consistently been the focal point of its releases, which fell short of our consensus estimate modestly in the latest print.
As shown below, Amazon has primarily struggled to exceed our consensus estimates on this metric over the recent years, though the 19% year-over-year growth rate did reflect a modest acceleration relative to the prior period.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Bottom Line
The 2024 Q4 earnings cycle has been one of positivity, with a great share of S&P 500 companies posting strong growth and favorable commentary for the coming periods.
And a few of the mega cloud players – Alphabet GOOGL, Microsoft MSFT, and Amazon AMZN – all posted solid growth in their cloud segments, though not all saw a positive post-earnings reaction following the release.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).