Earnings week July 29–30 results: Microsoft +8%, Amazon +10%, Meta -10%, Apple -4%

All six reports are in. The scorecard: Microsoft and Amazon were the big winners, surging 8% and 10% respectively. Meta missed on EPS and fell nearly 10%. Apple beat on revenue but fell 4% on a China miss. Qualcomm beat revenue but guided weak and slid after hours. Google had already reported the week prior — beat on cloud, sold off on capex.

This is the single most concentrated earnings week of the year for engineers with US equity. If you vest in August — the most common vest month after an April grant or a May grant date — the stock price your employer uses to calculate your perquisite now reflects these results. Here is the full breakdown.

Google (Alphabet) — already reported July 22

Results: Revenue $119.8 billion, up 24% YoY. Beat consensus of $117.1 billion. Google Cloud revenue +82% YoY to $24.8 billion — the standout number of the quarter. EPS of $9.11 vs $2.89 estimate, though the delta was almost entirely driven by a $99 billion gain on equity securities ($77 billion after tax), not operational earnings. Adjusted for that, the underlying beat was solid but not extraordinary.

Why the stock fell anyway: Alphabet guided to capex of roughly $75 billion for 2026 — higher than the market had priced in. Investors who bought the cloud acceleration thesis are now doing the math on whether returns on that spending materialise in 2027. The tension between enormous cloud growth and enormous spend is the story of Alphabet right now.

For GOOGL RSU holders: If your August vest date falls in the first two weeks of August, you are vesting into a stock that sold off after a genuine beat. That is a lower perquisite, which means less TDS withheld in August — and potentially a lower cost basis for future capital gains calculations. The cloud acceleration is real; the capex hangover is temporary. If you have unvested shares, the thesis for holding remains intact.

Microsoft — reported July 29 ✅ Stock +8%

Results: Revenue $90.01 billion, beat consensus of $87.6 billion by 2.7%. Non-GAAP EPS $4.74 vs $4.24 expected. Azure grew 43% — the number the market had been waiting quarters to see, well above the 40% consensus. Copilot reached 30 million paid seats. Management guided Q1 FY2027 Azure growth to ~45% at constant currency, and total revenue of $89.85–$90.95 billion (+16–17% YoY). FY2027 CapEx guided above $50 billion per quarter.

For MSFT RSU holders: Azure 43% ends multiple quarters of market doubt about Microsoft's AI return on investment. The stock's 8% post-earnings move is the largest single-session gain in years. If your August vest falls after July 29, your perquisite FMV is materially higher than it would have been before earnings. The Q1 FY2027 Azure guidance of 45% means the thesis is intact — and accelerating.

Meta — reported July 29 ✅ Stock −10%

Results: Revenue $60.8 billion, beat consensus of $60.2 billion. But EPS came in at $6.18 — significantly below the $7.10–$7.18 expected. The culprit: total costs and expenses surged 55% YoY to $42 billion, including $2.4 billion in legal charges and $1.2 billion in severance from an 8,000-employee headcount reduction. Reality Labs lost $4.6 billion in the quarter. Operating margin compressed to 31% from 43% a year ago. Q2 capex alone hit $31.1 billion — nearly double Q2 2025.

For META RSU holders: This is the most significant negative surprise of earnings week. The revenue trajectory remains strong — 28% YoY growth is not in question. But the cost structure has ballooned. If you vest in August, your perquisite FMV on META is roughly 10% lower than pre-earnings. The longer-term question is whether the AI spending eventually drives revenue — the market is clearly no longer willing to give Meta the benefit of the doubt on that. The concentration risk argument for diversifying META holdings is stronger after this print.

Qualcomm — reported July 29 ✅ Stock fell after hours

Results: Revenue $9.95 billion, beat consensus of $9.67 billion. Non-GAAP EPS $2.21, slightly below the $2.23 estimate — a technical miss. The big story: automotive revenue surged 61% YoY to a record $1.59 billion, and IoT grew 9%. But QCT handset revenue fell 20% YoY to $5.09 billion on memory supply constraints and weaker Chinese smartphone demand. Q4 non-GAAP EPS guidance of $2.05–$2.25 missed analyst expectations of $2.35–$2.38.

For QCOM RSU holders: The diversification story (automotive, IoT) is progressing, but mobile weakness and soft guidance overshadowed it. The stock declined after hours on the guidance miss. If you vest in August, the FMV will likely be modestly lower than pre-earnings. The automotive growth trajectory is the reason to remain constructive on the long-term thesis.

Apple — reported July 30 ✅ Stock −4%

Results: Revenue $109.42 billion, beat consensus of $108.9 billion (+16% YoY). EPS $2.02, beat the $1.89 estimate (+29% YoY). iPhone revenue came in near the top of expectations. But two misses overshadowed the headline beat: Greater China revenue was $18.8 billion versus the $19.6 billion expected, and Services revenue came in below the record quarter analysts had modelled. The stock fell 3–4% after hours.

For AAPL RSU holders: Apple is the most widely held RSU name among Indian engineers. The headline beat was solid but China and Services — the two highest-margin, highest-multiple businesses — both disappointed. For August vests, the FMV is modestly lower than pre-earnings. The China risk thesis that analysts had flagged all quarter materialised. Watch Q4 FY2026 guidance (October quarter — holiday iPhone 17 build) for the next catalyst.

Amazon — reported July 30 ✅ Stock +10%

Results: Net sales $196.9 billion, up 20% YoY. EPS $1.97 adjusted, beat the $1.82 estimate. AWS revenue $42.2 billion, up 37% YoY — its fastest growth in 18 quarters, well above the 33% consensus. AWS's AI and chips divisions each hit $25 billion annualised run rates with triple-digit growth. Core operating income $27.5 billion, up 43%. Full-year capex guidance raised to $220 billion — and unlike Google's capex hike, the market read this as a demand-signal positive given AWS's accelerating growth directly tied to the spend.

For AMZN RSU holders: The strongest print of earnings week. AWS 37% growth — the fastest in 18 quarters — validated the AI infrastructure investment thesis in a way Google's cloud numbers hadn't fully done. The 10% after-hours move is a significant uplift to August vest FMV. If you hold unvested AMZN shares, the stock re-rating is real and the capex expansion is being read as evidence of booked demand, not speculative spend.

The full scorecard: what happened and what it means for August vests

All six reports are in. Here is the final picture:

The week split cleanly: companies where AI infrastructure spend is visibly converting to cloud revenue (Microsoft, Amazon) were rewarded. Companies where AI spend is ahead of visible revenue (Meta, Google) or where core business faces structural pressure (Qualcomm mobile, Apple China) were punished or left flat.

The TDS and perquisite angle

Every vest after earnings produces a perquisite calculated as: FMV at vest date × number of shares × SBI TTBR. A 10% stock move in the week before your August vest date changes your TDS obligation by 10% on the RSU component of your income.

For engineers with large unvested positions at names that beat significantly — Amazon and Meta are the highest-probability upside surprises this week — the August vest perquisite will be meaningfully larger than it would have been before earnings. Make sure your advance tax payments reflect this. If you are in the 30% slab with surcharge (income above ₹50 lakh), the marginal rate on the incremental perquisite is approximately 34–39% depending on your surcharge bracket.

For engineers at companies where the stock falls after earnings (Google is the live example), the perquisite is lower and TDS withheld will be lower — but your cost basis for future capital gains is also lower, which matters when you eventually sell.

What to do now

For RSU-specific context — how these results flow into your Form 16 perquisite calculation, your Schedule FA, and your ITR-2 filing — the mechanics are unchanged. The FMV on your vest date is the number that matters, and it is set by the market price on that day.

If you vest in August at MSFT or AMZN: Your perquisite will be materially higher than if you had vested before earnings. More TDS will be withheld. Make sure your advance tax position accounts for this, especially if you have multiple vest events this quarter.

If you vest in August at META: The ~10% post-earnings drop means a lower perquisite and lower TDS. Your cost basis for future capital gains on these shares is also lower. The concentration risk argument is worth revisiting — META's cost structure has changed and the stock re-rating may take time.

If you are considering selling: The 24-month LTCG threshold remains the key tax variable. Shares vested in July–August 2024 are now crossing the 24-month mark and qualifying for 12.5% LTCG instead of your slab rate. See the RSU diversification guide for the full framework on when to sell and when to hold.