{"id":1275,"date":"2026-10-29T11:00:48","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T03:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onemoremoney.com\/onemorestock\/googl-q3-2026-earnings-results\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T11:00:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T03:00:48","slug":"googl-q3-2026-earnings-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onemoremoney.com\/onemorestock\/googl-q3-2026-earnings-results\/","title":{"rendered":"Alphabet (GOOGL) Q3 2026 Earnings: Cloud Doubles, Cash Flow Dips"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Alphabet (GOOGL) Q3 2026 Earnings: Cloud Doubles, Cash Flow Dips<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Alphabet reported its third quarter 2026 results on 28 October 2026 after the US close. Revenue for the quarter ended 30 September was $127.6 billion, up 25% year over year, essentially in line with consensus of $127.22 billion (per Investing.com) and $127.97 billion (per MarketBeat). Diluted GAAP earnings per share were $2.12, well short of the $3.02 (Investing.com) and $3.01 (MarketBeat) consensus figures, and down from $2.87 a year earlier. Alphabet reports GAAP figures only and does not present an adjusted EPS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The market reacted sharply. Class A shares closed the regular session at $322.22 and fell to $288.35 in after-hours trading on 28 October, about 10.5% lower, per Investing.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The headline miss is mostly a non-operating paper loss on Alphabet’s SpaceX stake. The number that matters more is cash: capital expenditure of $51.4 billion exceeded operating cash flow, free cash flow turned negative, and buybacks stayed at zero. This is a story about how the AI build-out is being paid for, not about a weak business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Alphabet Q3 2026 Earnings Scorecard<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Metric<\/th>Actual<\/th>Consensus<\/th>Company guidance<\/th>YoY<\/th>Result<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Revenue<\/td>$127.6B<\/td>$127.22B \/ $127.97B<\/td>None given<\/td>+25%<\/td>In line<\/td><\/tr>
EPS (GAAP, diluted)<\/td>$2.12<\/td>$3.02 \/ $3.01<\/td>None given<\/td>Down from $2.87<\/td>Miss<\/td><\/tr>
EPS (adjusted)<\/td>Not reported<\/td>n\/a<\/td>n\/a<\/td>n\/a<\/td>n\/a<\/td><\/tr>
Operating margin<\/td>31.8%<\/td>n\/a<\/td>n\/a<\/td>Up from 30.5%<\/td>Expanded<\/td><\/tr>
Free cash flow<\/td>Minus $9.1B<\/td>n\/a<\/td>n\/a<\/td>Negative<\/td>Down<\/td><\/tr>
Google Cloud revenue<\/td>$30.7B<\/td>n\/a<\/td>n\/a<\/td>+103%<\/td>Standout<\/td><\/tr>
Capex<\/td>$51.4B<\/td>n\/a<\/td>FY2026: $195B to $205B<\/td>Up from $24.0B<\/td>Guide held<\/td><\/tr>
Next-quarter revenue guidance<\/td>None given<\/td>n\/a<\/td>n\/a<\/td>n\/a<\/td>n\/a<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Source: Alphabet earnings release, 8-K Exhibit 99.1, dated 28 October 2026; consensus per Investing.com and MarketBeat as published 28 October 2026. “In line” here means within 1% of both consensus figures.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alphabet does not give quarterly revenue guidance, so the guidance column is mostly empty by design. The one forward number management does give, full-year capex, is the one the market cares about most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Revenue and Segment Breakdown<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Google Services, the advertising and subscriptions engine, grew 11% to $96.3 billion. Google Cloud grew 103% to $30.7 billion and now produces almost a quarter of total revenue. That shift in mix is the real story of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Segment<\/th>Revenue<\/th>YoY<\/th>Share of total<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Google Search and other<\/td>$63.4B<\/td>+12%<\/td>50%<\/td><\/tr>
YouTube ads<\/td>$11.2B<\/td>+9%<\/td>9%<\/td><\/tr>
Google Network<\/td>$7.5B<\/td>+1%<\/td>6%<\/td><\/tr>
Subscriptions, platforms and devices<\/td>$14.3B<\/td>+11%<\/td>11%<\/td><\/tr>
Google Cloud<\/td>$30.7B<\/td>+103%<\/td>24%<\/td><\/tr>
Other Bets<\/td>$0.4B<\/td>+8%<\/td>0.3%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Shares of total use total revenue of $127.6B, which also includes $0.2B of hedging gains.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google Cloud and the TPU story<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Google Cloud operating income was $11.1 billion, against $3.6 billion a year earlier. That puts the segment margin at about 36%, up from about 24%. Cloud revenue also rose 24% from $24.8 billion in Q2, so this was not a one-quarter spike against a soft base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the jump comes from selling hardware. A TPU (Tensor Processing Unit) is Google’s own AI accelerator chip, its alternative to Nvidia’s GPUs. Until recently TPUs were rented only inside Google’s own cloud. Now Google sells complete TPU systems into customer and third-party data centres:<\/p>\n\n\n\n