In today’s roundup, Boardroom also breaks down key financial outlooks for Microsoft, Alphabet, and Snap from their latest earnings reports.
Artificial intelligence is the name of the game right now when it comes to growth across the tech industry, and recent earnings reports from the Big Tech giants show us precisely that.
Here’s a recap of some of the high-level takeaways laid out in earnings reports from Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Snap. Amazon and Apple are set to report earnings after market close on Aug. 3, so expect a download on those next week.
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Big Tech Earnings: Q2 2023
Meta
Meta’s stock was up 6% and trading at its highest since Jan. 2022 after the tech giant posted a strong earnings report on Tuesday, July 25. Revenues for the operator of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp spiked 11% year-over-year to $31.9 billion, with much of that success coming from a renewed interest in online advertising and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg doubling down on cost-cutting efforts to improve profitability.
Key takeaways from Meta’s recent earnings report:
- Zuckerberg admitted that Meta was pleasantly overwhelmed by the mass adoption of upstart Twitter rival Threads. Despite Meta’s initial plan to keep the Threads team small, there is a big opportunity to grow it now.
- Meta’s total costs and expenses hit $22.61 billion, including $780 million in restructuring charges and $1.87 billion in legal fees.
- Meta spent $7.7 billion on its virtual reality sector in 2023 so far, and it lost $3.74 billion on its Reality Labs’ metaverse-related operations in Q2 alone.
- As of June 30, Meta’s long-term debt sits at $18.38 billion.
- Daily active users across Meta’s family of apps – primarily Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp – hit 3.07 billion on average in June, up 7% year-over-year.
Microsoft
Microsoft’s shares slipped as much as 4% on Wednesday, despite surpassing a few revenue projections. The company has had its hands full trying to close its acquisition of gaming giant Activision Blizzard, but the ink hasn’t dried on the contract just yet. Most notably, there has been widespread disappointment regarding Microsoft’s related rollout of its latest AI tech and investments.
Key takeaways from Microsoft’s recent earnings report:
- Microsoft’s revenue hit $56.2 billion, which is up 8% year-over-year.
- The tech giant profited $20.1 billion across the quarter, up a whopping 20% compared to the same period last year.
- Microsoft’s productivity and business processes unit, which encompasses Office productivity software, LinkedIn, and Dynamics, accounted for $18.29 billion in revenue. Linkedin revenue increased by 5% alone.
- Understandably so, investors are eager to see Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard go through sooner rather than later. The $69 billion deal, which was originally announced in January 2022, is set to close by mid-October at the latest.
- Microsoft’s research and development costs declined for the first time since 2016, due in part to the company announcing back in May that it would be skipping salary increases for full-timers this year.
Alphabet
After some steadfast growth across its cloud computing sector, Google parent company Alphabet’s shares rose by as much as 7%. The Big Tech titan beat revenue projections across various aspects of its business, bringing in $74.6 billion in revenue — up 7% year-over-year.
Key takeaways from Alphabet’s recent earnings report:
- Hardware and Google Services like Chrome, Google Maps, Android generated $66.3 billion in revenue. Sales dollars mainly came via advertising.
- Revenue across Google’s cloud unit increased by 28% to $8.03 billion.
- Ad revenue rose 3.3% to $58.14 billion, with YouTube ads revenue coming in at $7.67 billion.
- Alphabet and Google CFO Ruth Porat will take on the new roles of president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google, effective Sept. 1. She’s the company’s longest-serving CFO.
- Google’s cloud unit reported its second consecutive quarter of operating profit, generating $395 million in income for the quarter.
Snap
Snap’s stock fell as much as 17% after the social media company released its Q2 financial report on July 25. Shares plunged because Snap reported lower-than-expected financial guidance numbers, with CEO Evan Spiegel telling CNBC that this is due to the fact that forecasting anything in the social media industry has recently become more difficult.
Key takeaways from Snap’s recent earnings report:
- Despite the recent dip, Snap’s shares are up 18% compared to this time last year. Still, Snap’s stock price is not nearly as healthy as the $73-per-share high it hit in November 2021.
- Daily active users increased 14% year-over-year on Snapchat to 397 million.
- Revenues hit $1.07 billion in Q2, an increase compared to Q1 but lower than the $1.11 billion the company brought in Q2 last year.
- Snapchat+, the platform’s $3.99-a-month premium subscription service, reached four million paying subscribers in Q2.
- Over 150 million users have sent 10 billion messages using Snapchat’s AI-powered chatbot.
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