What's up with Alphabet and Microsoft lately? Profits, sales – and AI costs

Alphabet and Microsoft's stock prices jumped in after-hours trading today after the AI-infatuated businesses delivered higher-than-anticipated quarterly earnings.

Microsoft is right now up 4.3 percent to $416.25 apiece; the Google parent is up 11.4 percent to $176.

Alphabet reported revenue of $80.5 billion, up 15 percent year-on-year, for its first quarter of 2024. Net income reached $23.7 billion, up 53 percent, for diluted earnings per share of $1.89. Alphabet's stock price rose around 15 percent after the announcement

Some enthusiasm for Alphabet's stock can be attributed to the introduction of a quarterly $0.20 share dividend, to be paid starting June 17, 2024, for Class A, Class B, and Class C shares. The search biz also announced a $70 billion stock repurchase plan. Microsoft also returned $8.4 billion to shareholders during the quarter in the form of repurchases and dividends ...