Between Amazon and Alphabet One’s Gotten Much More Bang for Their 200 Billion Bucks Alex Sirois Tue, October 13, 2026 at 8:45 AM EDT 4 min read GOOG +1.08% AMZN +0.90% Explore stocks on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
Google Cloud (GOOGL) grew 82% versus AWS's (AMZN) 37%, yet the faster grower trades at a cheaper 23x forward earnings than Amazon's 24x.
Alphabet suspended buybacks, nearly doubled long-term debt to $98 billion, and turned quarterly free cash flow negative to fund its AI buildout.
Alphabet shares climbed 49% over the past year versus Amazon's 20%, with nearly 90% of Fortune 100 companies already using Gemini Enterprise.
Just released. Our analysts combed the entire stock market and named the ten best stocks to buy right now, and Amazon didn't make the cut. Enter your email to see the names that beat AMZN. The report is free. Enter your email and see if any of your stocks made the cut.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) both reported strong second quarters in late July while investing record amounts into AI data centers. Alphabet guided 2026 capex of $175 billion to $185 billion, and Amazon plans roughly $200 billion. So far, Alphabet is turning that money into growth faster.
Google Cloud revenue jumped 82% to $24.77 billion, up from 63% growth in Q1. That is the clearest sign so far that data-center dollars are becoming sales. CEO Sundar Pichai noted that nearly 90% of the Fortune 100 now use Gemini Enterprise. Search and other revenue still grew 17%, so AI features appear to be feeding the core ad engine.
Amazon's advantage is unmatched baseline scale. AWS grew 36.7% to $42.2 billion, its fastest pace in 18 quarters, and runs at a $169 billion annualized rate. The AI and chips businesses, Jassy said, "each eclipsed run rates of more than $25 billion." Total revenue of $200.61 billion dwarfs Alphabet's $119.80 billion.
Why Didn't AMZN Make The Top 10 List?
24/7 Wall St has helped investors make money for over two decades, and our top analysts just finished ranking the definitive Top 10 Stocks To Buy Now. Not the ten biggest companies. Not the ten everyone is arguing about. The ten best stocks to buy right now.
The report is free, and you can see why we think each stock is a top investment today.
Enter Your Email and See the Ten →
Alphabet's "full stack approach" ties its custom silicon to Gemini models and to distribution through Search and YouTube. One data center can serve advertisers, consumers, and cloud clients at once. Gemini processes 22 billion API tokens per minute, which suggests that capacity stays busy.
Amazon spreads capital across Trainium chips, robotics, nearly 400 Leo satellites, and Zoox robotaxis. Bedrock hosts rival models, a customer-choice pitch that shares some upside with partners. AWS backlog of $496 billion still tops Google Cloud's over $460 billion from Q1, so Amazon still leads on absolute scale.
Alphabet raised about $70 billion in equity and debt, suspended buybacks, and saw long-term debt climb from $46.5 billion to $98.2 billion. Quarterly free cash flow fell to -$5.86 billion. That dilution troubles me. Amazon's trailing free cash flow totals -$7.6 billion, and management expects pressure until new data centers start making. That capacity has to be powered, cooled, and connected by somebody, and we covered seven of those suppliers in a free AI infrastructure report.
What I'm watching is whether Google Cloud keeps outpacing AWS as new capacity comes online. It's worth tracking whether Amazon starts selling Trainium chips to outside customers, which Jassy called "a real chance."
To me, Alphabet has gotten more for its money. It delivered faster cloud growth on a smaller quarterly capex bill. Shares rose 49.49% over the past year versus 19.95% for Amazon. Even so, Alphabet trades at about 23 times forward earnings against Amazon's 24. The faster grower costs slightly less.
If you prefer a more diversified engine, Amazon's 26% advertising growth, grocery push, and AWS scale make it the stronger business. I would rethink my view if Google Cloud slows sharply or Alphabet leans hard on its $40 billion at-the-market program.
If you have cash sitting in your account right now, give this two minutes. After more than two decades of helping investors beat the market, our top analysts at 24/7 Wall St. put together a definitive report on the Top 10 Stocks To Buy Today. And AMZN wasn't one of them.
They combed the entire market. It's not 10 ideas, not 10 stocks everyone is talking about, it's what their research points to as the 10 best stocks to buy right now, and it's free. Read more here and see which stocks made the list -->>
Contact editorial@247wallst.com for any questions or corrections.
