In the third quarter, Google Cloud grew by 103%, but Alphabet missed profit expectations and posted a negative cash flow with over 300 billion planned spending in 2027.
Alphabet's results for the third quarter of 2026 were poorly received: the stock lost more than 10% after they were published on October 28. Revenue rose 25%, however, and Google Cloud, which carries the group's AI offering, more than doubled to $30.7 billion (+103%), above the expected $28.7 billion. But it was the first time in nearly four years that the group missed both revenue and profit forecasts. Net income fell to $26.17 billion, from $34.98 billion a year earlier, weighed down by an $8.66 billion loss on its stakes, after a one-off gain in the previous quarter related to its shares in SpaceX and Anthropic.
The infrastructure bill
The point that worries the most: a negative free cash flow of $9.07 billion, much worse than the −2.7 billion anticipated. Investments in the quarter reached $51.36 billion, and Alphabet maintains an annual envelope of about $200 billion for 2026, before exceeding $300 billion in 2027. Long-term debt rose from $21.6 billion to $125.1 billion in one year. Search (+12%, $63.35 billion) remained below expectations, although Sundar Pichai assures that AI has brought query growth to its highest level in five years.
In terms of uses, Google claims a billion users for the Gemini application and a strong demand for Gemini Argon, which the new Carbon version would exceed "in almost all areas" according to its CEO.
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