Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights: Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Amazon

For Immediate ReleaseChicago, IL – February 2, 2026 – Today, Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights Meta Platforms META, Microsoft MSFT and Amazon AMZN.Meta Pops and Microsoft Drops: A Closer LookThe 2025 Q4 earnings season continues to roll along, with a decent chunk of the S&P 500 delivering their results so far. While both earnings and sales growth has remained rock-solid so far, beats percentages are lower relative to other periods, with not all seeing favorable post-earnings reactions either.And concerning post-earnings reactions, Meta Platforms shares popped following its release, whereas Microsoft faced one of its worst days in years. Interestingly enough, MSFT shares now lag the S&P 500 on a five-year basis, whereas META shares have crushed.Were MSFT Earnings That Bad?Concerning headline expectations, Microsoft posted a double-beat relative to our consensus expectations, continuing its stellar earnings streak. Adjusted EPS of $4.14 grew by 24% year-over-year, whereas sales of $81.3 billion grew 17% from the year-ago period.While the headline growth rates were undoubtedly impressive, investors largely took issue with the big capital expenditures geared toward its cloud and AI offerings and a slowdown in Azure growth. CapEx for the period totaled $37.5 billion, of which $29.9 billion was for property and equipment, such as GPUs and CPUs to support Azure demand.Many have grown skeptical of the immense capital being thrown around in the broader AI frenzy, which helps explain the poor post-earnings reaction. Investors are beginning to demand results from the investments for understandable reasons, driven by the lofty forecasts we've seen over the past several years.Its Intelligent Cloud segment, which includes Azure, saw sales grow 28% year-over-year to $32.9 billion, though the segment's gross margin took a hit due to continued AI investments.Concerning Azure and cloud services revenue specifically, sales grew 31% year-over-year, reflecting a deceleration relative to recent growth rates of 35% and 39% across its previous two periods, respectively. For years, investors have placed a strong emphasis on accelerating cloud revenue, which has often dictated post-earnings reactions across the space, including with Amazon's AWS.Meta EarningsMeta Platforms similarly posted a double-beat relative to our consensus expectations, with adjusted EPS of $8.88 climbing 11% year-over-year alongside a 24% sales increase. Up 11% year-to-date, the stock has now outperformed nicely relative to the S&P 500.Importantly, the company continued to attract more consumers to its family of apps, with average Family Daily Active People (DAP) for December 2025 up 7% year-over-year to roughly 3.6 billion. Ad impressions, a key metric for the tech titan, grew 18% from the year-ago period, while average price per ad rose 6% from the same period last year.Like MSFT, the company is also investing heavily in AI, as reflected in guidance for its full-year 2026. META forecasts total FY26 expenses in a band of $162 - $169 billion, of which the majority is allocated to infrastructure costs. Higher compensation for key talent to support the buildout is the second-biggest contributor to its FY26 expenses, underscoring how high a priority it remains for the company.Putting Everything TogetherMeta Platforms and Microsoft had contrasting share reactions post-earnings, with META shares seeing positivity and MSFT shares facing a rough day on the back of steep CapEx and a deceleration in Azure.Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.7% average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +48.4%, +50.2% and +56.7% per year.Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.See Stocks Free >>Media ContactZacks Investment Research800-767-3771 ext. 9339support@zacks.comhttps://www.zacks.comPast performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.#1 Semiconductor Stock to Buy (Not NVDA)The incredible demand for data is fueling the market's next digital gold rush. As data centers continue to be built and constantly upgraded, the companies that provide the hardware for these behemoths will become the NVIDIAs of tomorrow.One under-the-radar chipmaker is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the next growth stage of this market. It specializes in semiconductor products that titans like NVIDIA don't build. It's just beginning to enter the spotlight, which is exactly where you want to be.See This Stock Now for Free >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis Report Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): Free Stock Analysis Report Meta Platforms, Inc. (META): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks