Google and Microsoft Cushion Their AI Capital Pains


谷歌母公司Alphabet和微软在资本支出创历史新高之际，核心业务表现良好。


微软首席执行官纳德拉年早些时候在拉斯维加斯的CES展会上。

人工智能(AI)竞赛对所有参与者来说都变得越来越昂贵。谷歌和微软(Microsoft)的最新财报成功缓解了这项业务越来越烧钱所带来的一些痛苦。 6park.com
The artificial intelligence race is getting more expensive for all. Google and Microsoft’s latest results managed to take some of the sting out of the rising price tag. 6park.com
  
这两家科技巨头一年前开始向企业客户和消费者推出生成式AI服务。虽然对于这些服务正在带来什么样的业务，两家公司都没有披露具体财务细节，但账单一目了然。上周四下午，两家公司都在各自的财报中公布了截至3月份的季度创纪录的资本支出。微软最近一个季度的资本支出和融资租赁设备支出达到140亿美元，比该公司五年前一整年的支出还要多。谷歌母公司Alphabet的支出为120亿美元，几乎较上年同期增长了一倍。 6park.com
The two tech giants began rolling out generative AI services to corporate customers and consumers a year ago. Neither is yet disclosing specific financial details of what kind of business those services are generating, but the bills are clear. Both reported record capital expenditures for the March quarter in their respective reports Thursday afternoon. Microsoft dropped $14 billion between capex and equipment acquired under finance leases in the latest quarter—more than the company used to spend in an entire year just five years ago. Google-parent Alphabet’s outlay of $12 billion nearly doubled from the same quarter last year. 6park.com
  
不过，这两家公司的股票在财报发布后双双走高，与Meta Platforms的情况形成了鲜明对比。Facebook和Instagram的母公司Meta Platforms上周四发布了第一季度财报，将今年的资本支出预算提高了12%，股价却应声下跌超过10%。不同之处在于，Meta还发布了相对令人失望的第二季度收入预期。而且，Meta要达到的标准要高得多，在发布财报之前，其股价今年迄今已上涨39%。微软和Alphabet的股价今年以来分别上涨了6.1%和11.7%。 6park.com
Yet both stocks rose following those reports—a sharp contrast to what happened with Meta Platforms. The parent company of Facebook and Instagram saw its shares slide more than 10% on Thursday following its own first-quarter report, which included a 12% raise to its planned capex budget for this year. The difference was that Meta also issued a relatively disappointing revenue forecast for the second quarter. And it had a much higher bar to clear, with a stock price up 39% for the year to date ahead of its results. Shares of Microsoft and Alphabet are up 6.1% and 11.7% for the year, respectively.  6park.com
  
谷歌母公司Alphabet的财报尤其强劲。在搜索广告、YouTube和云计算业务增长不断改善的推动下，该公司收入达到805亿美元，同比增长15%，超出华尔街预期。该公司的成本控制也有明显改善，营业利润率接近32%，为近三年来最高水平，员工人数减少了1%。新的700亿美元股票回购计划和成立25年来首次派发股息也起到了锦上添花的作用。根据FactSet的数据，Alphabet盘后股价上涨超过12%，这可能创该股至少五年来财报发布后的最大盘后涨幅。 6park.com
Google’s parent, in particular, had a strong report. Revenue of $80.5 billion was up 15% from a year earlier and beat Wall Street’s expectations, driven by improving growth in search advertising, YouTube and its cloud business. The company also showed notably improved cost controls, with operating margin of nearly 32%—the highest in nearly three years—and a 1% reduction in its employee head count. A new $70 billion share buyback and the 25-year-old company’s first-ever dividend were additional helpful touches. Alphabet shares jumped more than 12% after hours, setting up what could be the stock’s best post-earnings reaction in at least five years, according to FactSet.  6park.com
  
微软股价上涨超过4%。收入和营业利润也超过了华尔街的目标，而其备受关注的Azure云计算服务的收入比上年同期增长了31%，比分析师的预期高出两个百分点。该公司还表示，尽管加大了对AI的投资，但预计在截止于6月的财年中，运营利润率将比上年高出两个百分点。该公司还表示，预计下一财年的收入和营业利润将保持两位数的增长——这对这家如今年收入超过2,360亿美元的公司来说绝非易事，而且每一美元收入的利润约为42美分。 6park.com
Microsoft’s shares rose more than 4%. Revenue and operating earnings also beat Wall Street’s targets, while revenue for its closely watched Azure cloud computing service rose 31% from the year-earlier period—two points better than analysts had projected. The company also said it expects to end its fiscal year in June with operating margins 2 percentage points higher than the previous year, despite its increased investments in AI. It also said it expects growth in revenue and operating earnings to remain in double-digit territory in the next fiscal year—no simple feat for a company now generating more than $236 billion a year in revenue—and profit margins of about 42 cents on every dollar of that revenue. 6park.com
尽管如此，对Meta财报的反应表明，投资者正在密切关注AI的支出，而且他们也有自己的底线。上周四，在谷歌和微软的财报电话会议上，分析师们提出的第一个问题就是未来的支出计划。这两家公司的数字都在上升。Alphabet首席财务官Ruth Porat表示，今年剩余几个季度的资本支出将“大致达到或超过”近期水平。这意味着全年资本支出约为480亿美元，占Alphabet预期收入的14%，相比之下去年这一比例为10%。 6park.com
Still, the reaction to Meta’s results show investors are eyeing AI spending closely and that they have their limits. The first questions from analysts Thursday on earnings calls for both Google and Microsoft were about plans for future spending. The numbers are going up for both. Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat said capital expenditures for the remaining quarters of the year will be “roughly at or above” the recent period’s levels. That implies about $48 billion for the full year, or 14% of Alphabet’s projected revenue compared with 10% last year.   6park.com
  
微软首席财务官Amy Hood表示，当前财季资本支出将“大幅增加”，下一财年将进一步增长。华尔街已经预计微软本财年的资本支出约为470亿美元，约占该公司预期收入的18%，相比之下前一年的占比为15%。利好的一面是，Hood指出“近期的AI需求略高于我们的可用能力”。 6park.com
Microsoft CFO Amy Hood said capex would “increase materially” in the current quarter and grow further in the next fiscal year. Wall Street was already projecting about $47 billion for Microsoft in the current calendar year, which would be about 18% of the company’s projected revenue compared with 15% the year before. Positively, Hood noted that “near-term AI demand is a bit higher than our available capacity.”  6park.com
 
大型科技公司的投资者最好对这种情形会保持很长一段时间有所预期。 6park.com
Big Tech’s investors had better hope that remains the case for a long while.