On the May 4, 2026, episode of The Morning Filter podcast, David Sekera and Susan Dziubinski recapped the recent earnings reports of several Big Tech companies. Here are the excerpts from the show covering Amazon.com AMZN, Alphabet GOOGL, and Apple AAPL.
Why Alphabet Stock Is a Buy
Susan Dziubinski: Well, let’s go through some of the companies one by one, starting with Alphabet. Now, here was an example of pretty blowout results, right?
David Sekera: Yeah. I mean, these were just crazy-strong numbers for a company that’s already this large. Revenue was up 22%, operating margin expanded by 220 basis points. Our team noted that we’re estimating their Gemini API sales of USD 15 billion on an annualized revenue run rate. That’s up from just USD 9 billion last quarter. Now, capex spending, interestingly, here was kind of only in line with what expectations were, yet they raised their fiscal 2026 capex spending by USD 5 billion now to a range of USD 180 to USD 190 billion. That was only USD 175 to USD 185 last quarter. What that tells me is that we’ve now got accelerated spending for the remainder of the year.
Dziubinski: Now, Morningstar raised its fair value estimate on Alphabet’s stock to USD 433 after earnings. Stock’s been a pick of yours several times in the past. What do you think of it after that fair value increase?
Sekera: It still looks attractive to us. As you noted, it’s been a stock pick of ours in the past. And I actually looked up … This is actually one of the more recommended stocks that we’ve had on The Morning Filter, going all the way back to when we started the podcast in 2023. This is a stock that was pretty much left for dead in the AI arms race about two years ago. Everybody thought that AI was going to end up decimating search. That’s not what we’ve seen. And again, our investment thesis was we thought AI was going to actually improve search over time and to be able to improve this company in a number of different areas. At this point, that stock has now risen enough. It’s only at a 11% discount to fair value. Still enough to put it in 4-star territory, but unfortunately, not nearly that margin of safety as what we’ve seen over the past couple of years when we were recommending it.
Amazon Stock Looks Fairly Valued
Dziubinski: All right. Well, Amazon’s earnings report was pretty positive across the board. So run through the headlines on it for us, Dave.
Sekera: With Amazon, revenue is up 15% year over year. As you noted, the revenue is stronger pretty much across all of their divisions. So no problems here. Taking a look at their AWS platform—that’s their web hosting platform for artificial intelligence—revenue there was up 28% versus 25.7% for the consensus number. Some discussion out there, maybe that was a little bit slower than what the whisper number was, but still, 28%, very strong growth in that division. Operating margin overall improved by 130 basis points, going up to 13.1%. That’s up from 11.8% a year ago. Margins across the board are better than expected. And taking a look at their guidance here, they’re looking for second-quarter revenue of USD 194 to USD 199 billion. So, an increase from the prior consensus of only USD 189 billion.
Dziubinski: Now, Amazon stock was down a little bit after earnings, but Morningstar ticked up its fair value estimate by USD 20 to USD 280. Amazon’s been a pick of yours in the past. What do you think of the stock today?
Sekera: After we increased our fair value, it’s not only still trading at a 4% discount, puts it pretty much on top of fair value. It’s a 3-star-rated stock. This one’s been a pick a number of times in the past. I would just say that with Amazon, it never really stays 4-star for very long. I do think that this is a core holding type of stock for a lot of portfolios. So I wouldn’t argue if someone wants to buy a position to start in Amazon today. Again, I would keep it at a relatively small position, just so you do have dry powder. If it does go back down into that 4-star territory, you have the ability to be able to buy more and dollar-cost average into the downside. For the most part, if you’re buying Amazon stock here, I’d say for long-term investors, we’d look for that stock to grow in line with our cost of equity estimates.
Apple Stock Is Fairly Valued, Too
Dziubinski: All right. Last earnings report we’re going to talk about, Dave. You’re doing a great job. Apple reported last week. What’d you think of the results, and how does the stock look from a valuation perspective?
Sekera: Revenue up 17% year over year, led by iPhone growth, specifically in China, was particularly strong. Gross margin coming in at 49.3%. I guess that’s now a new all-time record for the company. Very good numbers coming in and good numbers yet to come. Management guided to strong growth in the June quarter. I think maybe a little bit of margin compression just because some of their spending might be going up here in the short term. Overall, we raised our fair value by 4% to USD 270 per share. Stock right now is trading a little bit over there, so it’s a 3-star-rated stock, another one in line with pretty much what we expected overall. So, really, no surprises here. Stock is still 3-star, so not necessarily something I’d be buying a new position in here today, but another one that, if you like the stock and this is a buy-and-hold for you, certainly no reason to be taking any money off the table.
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