Earnings season was the dominant force this past week, and Big Tech dominated the deluge of quarterly reports.
By and large, the performance of the majority of pillars in the CE 100 Index was to the downside, as the overall index slipped 2.5%.
The Live pillar slipped 12.4%. Stride’s stock plummeted 55% and iRobot shares slumped 43%.
In the case of Stride, for the first quarter of fiscal 2026 (ended Sept. 30), Stride reported revenue of $620.9 million, up 12.7% year over year. First quarter enrollments were 247,7000, up 11.3%. Management has stated that revenues per enrollment are expected to be “flattish.”
iRobot disclosed that it has entered into its sixth credit amendment and noted in the SEC filing that in the event of default, “the lenders would have the right to proceed against the collateral in which we granted a security interest to them, which consists of substantially all our assets.” It also said that the “last remaining” possible suitor had withdrawn from any transaction with the company, which might have included an acquisition. The read across is that bankruptcy might be in the cards.
In the Pay and Be Paid segment, which sank 3.5%, Mastercard shares slipped 3.8%. CEO Michael Miebach said on the call, “We continue to see healthy consumer and business spending in the quarter with the macroeconomic environment still generally supportive. Inflation levels have remained fairly steady and labor markets remain well balanced.”
In discussing the potential in artificial intelligence, he said that “agentic commerce is here, and we’re at the center of it with our global acceptance reach.” Value-added services revenues gained 22% year over year.
Stablecoins represent another growth engine, according to the CEO, who said they “are an attractive and growing opportunity for our network.” Year-to-date transactions with stablecoins and cryptocurrency are up 25%, he said. Mastercard Move has seen 35% transaction growth tied to disbursements of remittances, said Miebach, Among the factors driving net revenues 15% higher to $8.6 billion were 7% growth in U.S. debit and credit spending volumes. Cross-border volumes were up 15%.
Visa’s fiscal fourth quarter results, also showed growth in debit and credit spending, a surge in tokenized credentials and momentum in stablecoin-related activity. Credit and debit spending both were 8% higher. Value-added services revenue grew 25% in constant dollars to $3 billion. There are more than 16 billion issued tokens, up from 10 billion in May 2024. Visa shares lost 1.9%.
PayPal shares were down 0.7% through the week. PayPal’s third-quarter earnings results detailed 7% year-over-year growth in total payment volumes (TPV) on an FX-neutral basis to $458 billion, up from the 5% delivered along the same lines in the second quarter. Active accounts were 1% higher year over year to 438 million. As for the growth metrics, the TPV growth decelerated from the 9% seen in the third quarter of last year, and the growth in active accounts decelerated from the 2% logged in the second quarter.
Chief Financial Officer Jamie Miller said during the call that credit performance was strong. There was pressure on spending, however.
“Overall, we have seen relatively consistent growth in the number of checkout transactions, but basket sizes or average order value has decreased,” she said. “While still early in a back-end loaded quarter, we’ve observed this trend continuing through October.”
Big Tech Names Bump Higher
The Enablers segment was strong for the week, adding 3.1% overall.
In Amazon’s latest results, consolidated revenues were up 12% to $180.2 billion.
During his remarks on the conference call with analysts, CEO Andy Jassy said that “AWS is growing at a pace that we haven’t seen since 2022.” That business line saw 20% year-over-year growth to $33 billion and is now on a $132 billion annualized run rate. Backlog has grown to $200 billion as of the end of the latest quarter, and does not, said Jassy, reflect new as-yet unannounced new deals in October, which, he said, are “more than our total deal volume for all of Q3.”
AgentCore’s SDK has been downloaded over a million times, Jassy said. To that end, the company has doubled the power capacity that AWS had three years ago and is on track to double again by 2027. Amazon shares jumped 8.9%.
In its own disclosure of quarterly results, Apple painted a picture of a resilient U.S. consumer heading into the holidays in its Q4 earnings. The iPhone itself set a September‑quarter revenue record of $49 billion, up 6%, and CEO Tim Cook said the lineup is “resonating around the world,” adding Apple set “a September quarter record for upgraders.” The stock was up 2.9%.
PYMNTS reported that Google parent Alphabet’s third-quarter results underscored how its AI strategy is driving both growth and scale across its business. Google Cloud, which includes the company’s AI infrastructure and generative AI solutions, saw revenues rise 34% to $15.2 billion, outpacing other divisions. The backlog has grown to $155 billion. Operating income for Cloud more than doubled to $3.6 billion from $1.9 billion a year earlier.
First-party models like Gemini process 7 billion tokens per minute via direct API use from its customers, according to CEO Sundar Pichai. The Gemini App now has more than 650 million monthly active users, and queries have tripled from Q2, according to commentary from Pichai. The stock jumped 8.2% through the past five sessions.
