American technology giants collectively collapsed in Q3. Who can survive this "cold winter"?

It is learned that, except for Apple, the third quarter of this year was one of the most brutal earnings seasons in history for other companies among the five major technology giants in the United States. As of the close of U.S. stocks last Friday, the market value of Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft shrank by more than $350 billion this week.

While Apple is a "bright spot," Meta, Alphabet and others are in for a tough few months ahead, the analyst said. Other companies are better positioned to weather the storm than Meta.

apple

Apple's third-quarter revenue and profit bucked the trend amid soaring inflation, rising interest rates and a looming recession.

Achieve growth beyond expectations.

Apple is in top shape and a "bright spot" among a slew of big tech companies that have underperformed, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote, describing the iPhone maker as a "relative safe haven in the macro storm."

Privacy changes that allow users to change settings to opt out of ad tracking weaken competition but further strengthen Apple's position in the operating system space.

Even though iPhone sales were slightly lower than expected, it couldn't dampen the company's strong performance this quarter. Apple CEO Tim Cook said: "Customer demand has been strong and better than we expected."

Alphabet

Google parent Alphabet's quarterly results were not a pleasant surprise to Wall Street, with a slowdown in its search advertising business a worrying sign for the broader economy because ad budgets are often the first to be cut in times of austerity.

"Alphabet's weaker-than-expected search ad sales show how serious consumers' concerns about a recession are," said Nikhil Lai, a senior analyst at Forrester.

Alphabet's total revenue for the third quarter was $69.1 billion, with earnings per share of $1.06, well below analysts' expectations, Variety reported. YouTube, owned by the parent company, also failed to meet expectations, with ad sales of $7.07 billion, down 1.9% from the previous year.

Still, Alphabet's leading market share and irreplaceable scale mean the company will be largely insulated from the worst of the economic storm.

Amazon

Amazon's third-quarter results missed estimates, sending its shares tumbling and wiping out $120 billion in market value as of Friday. Amazon also estimated that fourth-quarter sales could fall short of analysts' expectations.

Yet Wall Street remains bullish on the e-commerce giant. "Pressures facing AMZN's business are primarily macroeconomic rather than fundamental," JPMorgan wrote in a note. In other words, they're worried about the economy, but the company is in good shape overall.

Microsoft

Microsoft reported its slowest quarterly revenue growth in five years, but analysts are bullish on the company's prospects despite weak guidance for the next quarter. Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a note on Tuesday that there is potential for a recovery next year.

“We believe Microsoft is well positioned to continue winning business and expanding market share within its existing customer base in a slower growth environment,” the analysts wrote, according to CNBC.

Meta

Meta is the tech giant with the biggest share price decline during this earnings season, with the company's stock price down more than 70% so far this year.

Meta is facing enormous pressure due to weak global economic conditions, challenges with Apple's app tracking transparency policy, and competition for users and revenue from other companies including TikTok.

Morgan Stanley downgraded the company's stock and wrote that Meta's guidance and quarterly results are likely to put pressure on the stock price for some time. The analyst noted that Meta needs to focus on fixing its core businesses, such as Facebook and Instagram.

Editor✎ Ashley/

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