According to CNBC, Jim Cramer analyzed the post-earnings stock swings for Microsoft and Meta Platforms on Thursday, January 25, 2024. Microsoft shares fell nearly 10% after its Wednesday evening report showed slowing cloud growth and management gave a weak response on AI spending. Conversely, Meta’s stock jumped roughly 10% as its AI investments were seen accelerating revenue growth, offsetting spending fears. Cramer highlighted that Meta’s advertising business made up 97% of its revenue last quarter, serving its base of 3.5 billion daily active users. He also pointed to Alphabet’s recent positive reception around its Gemini AI models as a sign of shifting fortunes. Cramer’s core message was that investors should not give up on these hyperscalers after a single quarter’s results.
The AI Narrative Whiplash
Here’s the thing about the stock market right now: it has the attention span of a goldfish. One quarter, Meta is getting hammered for spending too much on AI. The next, it’s the darling because that spending is paying off. Microsoft has a single cloud growth hiccup and gets dumped, even though its Azure business and OpenAI partnership are still massive forces. Cramer’s point is spot on—declaring permanent winners and losers in this AI race based on a 90-day snapshot is a fool’s errand. The narrative changes every earnings season. Remember when everyone thought Google was doomed because of ChatGPT? Now, talk around Gemini has the stock flying high again. It’s exhausting, honestly.
The Real Game Being Played
So where does that leave an investor? Cramer makes a crucial distinction. For most of these giants—Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet—they’re players in the AI game. A great product cycle or a misstep can swing sentiment wildly. But then there’s Nvidia. Cramer argues they’re different. They’re not playing the game; they’re running it. They’re the house supplying the chips everyone else is desperately buying to build their AI empires. That’s a fundamentally more powerful and stable position. While the software and service companies battle for AI supremacy, the primary arms dealer sits in a pretty enviable spot. That doesn’t mean Nvidia’s stock won’t be volatile, but the underlying demand driver seems less fickle.
Patience Over Panic
The clear lesson, and it’s a boring one, is patience. These companies are executing decade-long strategies in a field that’s evolving by the month. A weak guide from Microsoft about AI capex? That might just be timing. A blowout quarter from Meta? Fantastic, but can they repeat it? The market’s knee-jerk reactions create opportunities for those who can look past the quarterly noise. I think the real test isn’t this quarter’s revenue pop from AI, but which companies can build durable, profitable new businesses on top of the technology. That’s a story that will take years to write, not quarters. Betting against the scale and resources of these hyperscalers has rarely been a winning long-term strategy, even if they stumble for a bit. Why would AI change that?
