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Alphabet’s free cash flow sinks further, Q3 capex expectations miss in worrying sign for AI trade

  • Ahead of Wednesday's earnings report, Alphabet faces negative free cash flow for the first time, with analysts projecting a $2.27 billion deficit in the third quarter.
  • Rising capital spending drives this cash flow pressure; in July, the company lifted full-year guidance to $195–$205 billion, with annual spending expected to exceed $300 billion in 2027.
  • Alphabet's cloud division is projected to grow 90% to $28.7 billion, gaining share from Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, while OpenAI and Anthropic intensify pressure on the core Search business.
  • Shares of the Google parent have dropped about 7% in October, while analysts at Citizens warned that 'execution risk exists' and they are 'incrementally cautious on Search' amid rising agent competition.
  • To maintain dominance, Google is aggressively adding Gemini models to enterprise offerings and ramping sales of custom TPUs as agents redefine the search landscape and competition intensifies.
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18 Articles

Right

Alphabet's Heavy Cloud Spending Drives Cash Burn

·Boca Raton, United States
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Lean Right

Alphabet achieved record-high revenue of $127.5 billion in the third quarter. Driven by increasing demand for AI, cloud revenue surged 103%, and search advertising also recorded double-digit growth. However, free cash flow showed a deficit due to large-scale capital investments to build AI infrastructure.

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Lean Left

Client Challenge

·San Francisco, United States
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Zero Hedge broke the news in Sofia, Bulgaria on Wednesday, October 28, 2026.
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