Microsoft beat, Meta missed: the AI-capex split after the close
One company proved the AI spend is still working. The other raised the bill and got punished for it.
Microsoft posted a clean beat after the close: revenue $90 billion (+18% year over year), Azure growth +43% (the fastest in four years), and EPS of $4.81. The after-hours reaction was positive.
Meta also beat on revenue ($60.8 billion) but missed on EPS ($6.18 versus roughly $7.14 consensus). The miss was driven by $2.4 billion in legal charges and severance. Management raised the lower end of 2026 capital-expenditure guidance to a range of $130–145 billion. The stock sold off 7–8% after-hours.
The two reports landed in the same session and produced opposite tape reactions for a reason. Microsoft showed the AI infrastructure spend is still converting into growth. Meta raised the absolute size of the bill while the market is still digesting earlier chip-sector disappointment (SK Hynix and the broader sell-off that accelerated the AI-capex skepticism narrative).
That skepticism remains the dominant tech narrative heading into the next session. The immediate catalyst is no longer “will they spend?” It is “who is converting the spend into revenue fast enough to justify the multiple.”