Meta's operating margin collapsed to 31% from 43% a year ago while Alphabet expanded margins, powered by Google Cloud growing 82%. Meta's paused buybacks leave stock-based compensation unhedged, quietly expanding share count while Alphabet's $53.3 billion trailing 12-month free cash flow absorbs vesting pressure. Alphabet's Pichai and four C-suite executives bought stock on July 25 while Meta's CFO Susan Li and CTO Andrew Bosworth were net sellers. Meta guided fiscal 2026 capex to $130 billion to $145 billion and expenses to $165 billion to $169 billion, while Alphabet lifted its capex range to $195 billion to $205 billion. Google Cloud sits on a $514 billion backlog, providing clearer near-term returns on the AI buildout than Meta's ads-only funding model.
