Microsoft, Alphabet and AMD tout AI progress, but investors want tangible results
- Shares of the tech giants slipped in late trading on Tuesday after they delivered results for the last three months of 2023 and forecasts for the current quarter
- Wall Street wants more clarity on how much AI will contribute to financial performance going forward, analysts say
Shares of the tech giants slipped in late trading on Tuesday after they delivered results for the last three months of 2023 and forecasts for the current quarter. All three took pains to highlight progress on AI. In AMD’s case, the company predicted that its new AI processors will generate even more sales than expected. Microsoft touted how users were embracing its AI assistants, and Google said the technology was improving its search and cloud computing services.
But investors had bid up shares of the companies to record highs in recent weeks, betting that an AI bonanza would quickly fuel results. What they heard on Tuesday was not enough to satisfy those hopes.
“Companies are continually having to prove themselves and continually prove the value proposition of AI,” Katrina Dudley, a portfolio manager and analyst at Franklin Templeton, said on Bloomberg Television.
Microsoft and Google, two rivals in AI software and cloud computing, delivered mostly good news in their reports – but still elicited a ho-hum from investors.
