Chapter 1: What were Alphabet's earnings and revenue growth in the latest report?
Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast, where we cover the top news for investors every morning.
It's good to be with you on this Thursday, February 5th. I'm Julie Morgan. Alphabet's stock is 2% lower in pre-market action after closing 2% in the red on Wednesday. The company reported earnings that saw revenues overall grow 18% to $113.8 billion, topping expectations for $111.5 billion. This was due to accelerating growth in Google services and the increasingly important Google Cloud.
As with the other big tech bellwethers, investor focus was heavily on artificial intelligence spending and benefits. Alphabet's CEO signaled that 2026 capital expenditures would come in at $175 to $185 billion, well above estimates compiled by Bloomberg for $119.5 billion.
Comparatively speaking, CapEx for 2025 came in at $91.5 billion, in line with previous company guidance for $91 to $93 billion. Qualcomm is down 11% in pre-market trading,
Chapter 2: How is Qualcomm's performance impacting its stock and future guidance?
after offering up guidance for the coming quarter that missed Wall Street's forecast. For the period ending December 28, Qualcomm said it earned an adjusted $3.50 per share, as revenue rose 5% year-over-year to $12.25 billion. A consensus of analysts expected the company to earn $3.41 per share on an adjusted basis, with revenue of $12.2 billion.
Looking to the second quarter, Qualcomm said it expects to earn between $2.45 and $2.65 per share on an adjusted basis, with revenue forecasts between $10.2 and $11 billion. Analysts were expecting $2.90 per share in earnings and $11.1 billion in revenue.
Qualcomm noted that its guidance includes the estimated impact of memory supply constraints and related pricing on demand from several handset customers. Yum Brand said on its earnings call on Wednesday that about 250 underperforming Pizza Hut restaurants in the U.S., will close as they clean up their portfolio. The company operated a total of 19,974 Pizza Hut locations globally at the end of Q4.
Chapter 3: What changes is Pizza Hut making in its U.S. operations?
Yum Brand said the closures are focused on weaker performing locations rather than a broad retrenchment of the brand. During Q4, Pizza Hut division sales were down 5%, including a 1% decline in same-store sales. Looking ahead, the HUD forward plan for the pizza brand includes vibrant marketing, modernization of technology, and new franchise agreements.
I want to share with you a few other articles that are trending. Rare earth stocks sink as the Trump administration floats the idea of tariffs to implement a price floor. Nike is facing an investigation for alleged DEI-related discrimination against white workers. And NVIDIA's AI chip sale to ByteDance reportedly hinges on conditions set by the Trump administration.
A few items to share with you on our Catalyst Watch. American Axle and Manufacturing will begin trading under its new name and symbol, Dowk Corporation, ticker symbol DCH. Shareholders with VECO Instruments and Excellus Technologies will vote on the planned merger between the companies.
Chapter 4: What are the implications of the Trump administration's tariffs on rare earth stocks?
And Amazon will hold its earnings conference call around 5 p.m. Key topics will include AWS growth and competitive positioning, how investors should view surging AI-driven CapEx, and 2026 investment plans that could include OpenAI. Suppliers that have a high trading correlation with Amazon on earnings day include Hamilton Beach, Marvell Technology, and Atarian.
On Wall Street at this early hour, Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are in mixed territory. Crude oil is up 1.3% at $64 a barrel. Bitcoin is down 2.3% at $71,000. Gold is down 1.8% at $48.73. Snap is on our list of the biggest movers of the day pre-market. Snap is up 6% after the company delivered strong Q4 operating metrics and issued guidance largely in line with expectations.
Daily active users reach 474 million, up 21 million year over year, but down 3 million sequentially.
Chapter 5: How is Snap performing in the pre-market and what are its user metrics?
That's it for today's Wall Street Breakfast. Thanks for listening. To take full advantage of Seeking Alpha with coverage on significant stocks and ETFs, become a premium subscriber. Check out seekingalpha.com slash subscriptions. I'm your host, Julie Morgan. Go out and make it a great day.