The Biggest Earnings Surprises of Q2 2026: Alphabet and Amazon, and the Gains Behind Them

Every earnings season has a leaderboard. The second-quarter 2026 board has two names at the top and an asterisk next to both.

• Alphabet reported Q2 EPS of $9.11 versus a $2.88 estimate; Amazon reported $5.75 versus $1.82 ^[1].
• Both benefited from substantial investment gains: Alphabet from equity securities and Amazon from its Anthropic investment ^[1].
• Alphabet’s gain was about $98 billion ^[2].
• Their combined effect lifted S&P 500 blended earnings growth from 32.0 percent to 50.4 percent ^[1].

The two largest surprises

According to FactSet, Alphabet reported earnings per share of $9.11 against a consensus of $2.88, and Amazon reported $5.75 against $1.82 ^[1]. In percentage terms each is a beat of more than 200 percent.

Where the gains came from

Neither beat came from selling more. FactSet attributes both to substantial investment gains: Alphabet’s from equity securities, Amazon’s from its investment in Anthropic ^[1]. In Alphabet’s case the gain was about $98 billion ^[2]. That is the kind of mark-to-market profit that appears when the private companies a firm has invested in are revalued upward.

Effect on the index

Because both are among the largest companies in the S&P 500, they moved the index statistics. Blended Q2 earnings growth was 50.4 percent, but 32.0 percent without the two. The aggregate earnings surprise of 29.2 percent was the highest since FactSet began tracking it in 2008 ^[1].

What was in the two gains

FactSet’s August 7 note gives the sources. Alphabet’s $9.11 EPS against a $2.88 estimate was driven by $98 billion in unrealized gains on equity securities, and Amazon’s $5.75 against $1.82 was helped by $53.4 billion in investment gains, mainly from its Anthropic holdings ^[1]. Those items matter because they are not operating profit: a mark-to-market gain on a stake can reverse as easily as it appeared. The aggregate earnings surprise for the S&P 500 was 29.2 percent, the highest since FactSet began tracking in 2008 and well above the previous record of 23.2 percent in Q2 2020, but excluding the two companies it was 10.9 percent ^[1].

The earlier snapshot makes the effect visible. On July 24, after Alphabet but before Amazon, the surprise was 39.3 percent with Alphabet and 12.6 percent without it, and blended growth was 37.9 percent, or 25.9 percent excluding Alphabet ^[2]. By August 7 Amazon had reported and blended growth was 50.4 percent against 32.0 percent excluding both ^[1]. Alphabet was also raising capital spending the same week, and its free cash flow turned negative in the quarter, so the investment gain and the cash drain appeared in the same results ^[3]. A fair reading holds both facts: very strong reported earnings and a large non-operating component.

What the leaderboard teaches

• Large investments in AI labs, such as Amazon’s in Anthropic, now show up in headline earnings, which makes some results depend on private-market valuations.
• Gains can reverse if those valuations fall, so they are not a reliable guide to next quarter.
• Cloud revenue growth, such as Google Cloud’s 82 percent ^[3], is a better indicator of operating strength.

The names at the top of the table are not wrong to be there; they simply earned in a way that tells you about their portfolios as much as their products. This is analysis, not investment advice.

Questions readers ask

Which companies had the biggest Q2 2026 earnings surprises?

Alphabet ($9.11 vs. $2.88 estimated) and Amazon ($5.75 vs. $1.82), both boosted by investment gains ^[1].

What was Amazon's investment gain tied to?

FactSet attributes it to Amazon’s investment in Anthropic ^[1].