11 min read On February 6, 2026, Amazon shares fell 5.6% after the company said it planned to spend about $200 billion on capital projects in 2026, much of it on AI data centers. The same day Nvidia rose 7.9% and Super Micro Computer 11.4%. AI stocks are the companies whose revenue depends on artificial intelligence: the chipmakers and server builders that sell the hardware, the software firms that sell AI tools, and the giants that buy it all. In 2026 the number that moves the whole group is how much those giants say they will spend.
This guide covers six AI stocks with very different jobs in that chain (Nvidia, AMD, Super Micro, Palantir, Meta and Alphabet), their Q3 report dates, and what the last nine big-tech earnings sessions did to the suppliers.
AI stocks at a glance
Price changes run from the December 31, 2025 close to the October 20, 2026 close and exclude dividends.
| Company | Ticker | Role in the AI chain | 2026 price change | Next report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nvidia | NVDA | Sells AI accelerators and networking | +16.1% | Tue, Nov 17 (expected) |
| AMD | AMD | Sells AI accelerators and server CPUs | +149.7% | Tue, Nov 3 |
| Super Micro Computer | SMCI | Builds AI servers around Nvidia and AMD chips | +10.9% | Around Nov 3 (not confirmed) |
| Palantir | PLTR | Sells AI software to governments and companies | +8.4% | Mon, Nov 2 |
| Meta Platforms | META | Buys AI hardware for its own apps and models | +5.2% | Wed, Oct 21 |
| Alphabet | GOOGL / GOOG | Buys AI hardware, rents it out through Google Cloud | +8.7% | Wed, Oct 28 |
| Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) | +16.8% | |||
| S&P 500 (SPY) | +12.8% |
Sources: daily closes from Yahoo Finance; report dates from company investor-relations announcements, except Nvidia (named on its August call, formal notice pending) and Super Micro (calendar estimate).
Five of the six trailed the Nasdaq 100 this year. Only AMD beat it, and by a wide margin. Owning “the AI trade” in 2026 has mostly meant owning volatility: Palantir lost 34% in the first half and then gained 60% in the third quarter, finishing October 20 up 8.4%.
Why capex guidance moves AI stocks
Capital expenditure (capex) is what a company spends on long-lived assets: buildings, servers, chips, power equipment. For four companies, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta, that spending is now so large that it sets the revenue line of the AI hardware sector.
Nvidia shows how direct the link is. Of its $89.0 billion in Q2 fiscal 2027 data-center revenue, $49 billion came from hyperscalers (the largest cloud operators), according to its August 26 earnings call. On the same call, CFO Colette Kress said capex by the top five hyperscalers was expected to reach nearly $800 billion in 2026 and $1.3 trillion in 2027.
Each spender updates its plan on its own earnings call, which is why AI stocks often react more to Meta’s or Amazon’s report than to their own news that week.
| Spender | 2026 capex plan (latest) | How the plan changed this year | Q3 report |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | About $220 billion | Raised from about $200 billion in July | Thu, Oct 29 |
| Alphabet | $195–205 billion | Raised twice, from $175–185 billion in February | Wed, Oct 28 |
| Microsoft | About $175 billion (calendar year) | Cut from $190 billion by a lease accounting change, building plan unchanged | Wed, Oct 28 |
| Meta | $130–145 billion | Low end raised from $125 billion in July | Wed, Oct 21 |
Sources: Fortune on Amazon’s Q2 call; CFO Dive on Microsoft; Meta’s Q2 release; Alphabet’s revision path compiled by Yield Theory.
Together the four plan roughly $720–745 billion this year. Treat that total as a scale marker rather than a precise number: Meta counts finance-lease payments, Amazon’s figure is broader than servers and chips, and Microsoft’s dropped $15 billion through accounting alone.
The same guidance cuts the other way for the spenders’ own shares. Meta’s free cash flow fell to $784 million in Q2 from $8.55 billion a year earlier, and Alphabet’s turned negative at −$5.9 billion as its quarterly capex doubled to $44.9 billion (Alphabet Q2 release). A higher capex number is revenue for Nvidia and a cost for Meta.
What big-tech earnings did to AI suppliers since October 2025
The table lists every session that followed a Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon or Meta report since October 2025. All four report after the US close, so the move is measured from the report-day close to the next day’s close.
| Session | Who reported | Reporter’s next-day move | NVDA | AMD | SMCI | PLTR | Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 30, 2025 | Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft | META −11.3%, GOOGL +2.5%, MSFT −2.9% | −2% | −3.6% | −4.4% | −2.1% | −1.5% |
| Oct 31, 2025 | Amazon | AMZN +9.6% | −0.2% | +0.5% | +3.2% | +3% | +0.5% |
| Jan 29, 2026 | Meta, Microsoft | META +10.4%, MSFT −10% | +0.5% | −0.2% | −3.5% | −3.5% | −0.6% |
| Feb 5, 2026 | Alphabet | GOOGL −0.5% | −1.3% | −3.8% | −8.6% | −6.8% | −1.4% |
| Feb 6, 2026 | Amazon | AMZN −5.6% | +7.9% | +8.3% | +11.4% | +4.5% | +2.1% |
| Apr 30, 2026 | All four | GOOGL +10%, META −8.6%, MSFT −3.9%, AMZN +0.8% | −4.6% | +5.2% | +4.1% | +0.8% | +0.9% |
| Jul 23, 2026 | Alphabet | GOOGL −7.1% | −1.6% | −2.3% | +2.1% | −1% | −1.9% |
| Jul 30, 2026 | Meta, Microsoft | META −8%, MSFT +15.5% | +2.6% | +13% | +7.9% | −0.6% | +3.3% |
| Jul 31, 2026 | Amazon | AMZN +15.3% | +2.9% | −1.9% | +2.4% | +0.7% | +0.6% |
Calculated from Yahoo Finance daily closes; report dates from the companies’ SEC 8-K filings. Other news landed on several of these days, so the table shows what happened, not what caused it.
Nine sessions are a small sample. Three things still stand out.
- The smaller the supplier, the bigger the move. Super Micro’s average move was 5.3% in either direction, AMD’s 4.3%, Nvidia’s 2.6%. Super Micro moved more than Nvidia in seven of the nine sessions.
- The spender’s stock and the suppliers often split. On February 6, Amazon fell on its spending plan and every supplier in the table rose. On July 30, Meta fell 8% after raising the low end of its capex range and guiding Q3 revenue below forecasts, while AMD gained 13%.
- Palantir barely follows the capex story. Its average move was 2.6%, and it went the opposite way to Nvidia in four of the nine sessions. It sells software, so the hyperscalers’ hardware budgets are not its revenue.
The six AI stocks on this season’s calendar
Meta Platforms (META): reports Wednesday, October 21
Meta opens the AI earnings run after the close on October 21, with the call at 4:30 PM ET (20:30 UTC). It is the smallest of the four spenders, and its stock fell 11.3% after the October 2025 report and 8% after July’s, both times with spending costs in focus. Q2 revenue grew 28% to $60.8 billion, yet the stock is up only 5.2% this year. Watch for the first 2027 capex signal: in each of the last two years Meta gave its first read on next year’s spending on the Q3 call. Times, consensus and the reaction history are on the Meta earnings date page.
Alphabet (GOOGL): reports Wednesday, October 28
Alphabet is both a buyer and a seller of AI capacity. Google Cloud revenue grew 82% to $24.8 billion in Q2, so part of the capex comes back as rental income. Its stock rose 10% after the April report and fell 7.1% after July’s, when capex guidance rose again and free cash flow turned negative. The Alphabet earnings date page has the call time and consensus. The same afternoon the Fed announces its rate decision at 2:00 PM ET, and Microsoft reports after the close.
Palantir (PLTR): reports Monday, November 2
Palantir announced on October 12 that it will report after the close on November 2, with a webcast at 5:00 PM ET. It is the one company of the six that makes money from AI being used rather than built. Q2 revenue grew 93% to $1.94 billion, and US commercial revenue grew 149% (Q2 release). It guided Q3 revenue at $2.160–2.164 billion. The stock trades on valuation as much as on results: its next-day move after the last eight reports averaged 14.8%, including +29.5% in August. You can follow it on the Palantir price chart.
AMD: reports Tuesday, November 3
AMD reports after the close on November 3, with the call at 5:00 PM ET (22:00 UTC, after US clocks change on November 1). Its data-center sales grew 107% to $6.7 billion in Q2, and it guided Q3 revenue at about $13.0 billion. AMD is the only one of the six to more than double this year, and it has been the most sensitive large chipmaker to the spenders’ news: on July 30 it gained 13% against Nvidia’s 2.6%. The guide to trading AMD stock covers the instrument itself.
Super Micro Computer (SMCI): expected around November 3
Super Micro had not confirmed its date as of October 20; earnings calendars project November 3 after the close. It guided fiscal 2027 revenue (the year to June 2027) at $65–72 billion, against $39.1 billion in fiscal 2026 (Q4 FY26 release). That forecast is a bet on the spenders’ capex holding up, which is why Super Micro moves hardest on their reports. Its own next-day reactions over the last four quarters were −11.3%, +13.8%, +24.5% and +19%, according to TipRanks.
Nvidia (NVDA): expected Tuesday, November 17
Nvidia reports last, which means four capex updates will already be priced in before its numbers arrive. The company guided Q3 fiscal 2027 revenue at $108 billion, plus or minus 2%, after $96.2 billion in Q2, up 106% (Q2 FY27 release). The November 17 date came from Nvidia’s investor-relations team on the August call; the formal notice with a call time had not been published by October 20.
How to trade AI stocks around earnings
The season runs in a fixed order: spenders first (Meta October 21, Alphabet and Microsoft October 28, Amazon October 29), then Palantir, AMD and Super Micro in the first days of November, then Nvidia two weeks later. By the time the suppliers report, the market has already heard how much their customers plan to spend.
Single stocks. PrimeXBT lists share CFDs on AMD, Super Micro, Palantir and Amazon, which lets you go long or short around a report without owning the shares. For Nvidia, Meta and Alphabet, check the current share CFD list, since the lineup changes.
Indices. Nvidia, AMD, Meta and Alphabet together make up about 21% of the Nasdaq 100, based on QQQ holdings as of October 19, so an index CFD takes the AI earnings run as one input among many. How a single heavyweight’s report passes through to an index is covered in how earnings season affects stock indices.
Four points that follow from the data above:
- Read the capex line before the headline numbers. In the spenders’ releases, look for capital expenditures in the cash-flow statement and any change to the full-year plan. This year a higher plan has often hit the spender’s own stock (Amazon in February, Alphabet and Meta in July) while lifting the suppliers. The guide to reading an earnings report shows where to find it.
- Size supplier trades for the larger move. Super Micro moved about twice as much as Nvidia on the same news. A position sized for Nvidia’s volatility is oversized in Super Micro.
- Expect the gap at the open. All six report after the cash close, and stop orders can fill well away from their level when the next session opens. Option prices also drop sharply once the result is known, an effect called IV crush. Ways to position before or after the release are set out in how to trade earnings.
- Listen to the call, not only the release. The first word on next year’s capex often comes on the earnings call an hour after the release, not in the release itself.
The full season calendar sits in the earnings season guide. For AI stocks, the question this season is whether the four spenders confirm the $1.3 trillion that Nvidia’s CFO expects them to spend in 2027, or whether one of them blinks first.
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What are AI stocks?
AI stocks are shares of companies whose revenue depends on artificial intelligence. The group includes chipmakers such as Nvidia and AMD, server builders such as Super Micro Computer, software firms such as Palantir, and the large buyers of AI hardware such as Meta and Alphabet.
Why does capex guidance move AI stocks?
Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta plan roughly $720-745 billion of capital spending in 2026, much of it on AI data centers. That spending is revenue for chip and server suppliers, so a change in any of their plans can move Nvidia, AMD and Super Micro before those companies report.
When do the main AI stocks report Q3 2026 earnings?
Meta reports on October 21, Alphabet and Microsoft on October 28, Amazon on October 29, Palantir on November 2 and AMD on November 3, all after the US close. Super Micro is expected around November 3 and Nvidia on November 17, neither formally confirmed as of October 20, 2026.
Which AI stocks move the most on big-tech earnings?
In the nine sessions after a Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon or Meta report between October 2025 and July 2026, Super Micro moved 5.3% on average, AMD 4.3%, Nvidia 2.6% and Palantir 2.6%, based on daily closing prices.
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