Big tech companies find billions more in profit
Technology companies have been dominating the news and investors’ attention, and a series of earnings reports Thursday afternoon showed why. Four of the most valuable tech companies in the world Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, -0.05% , Google parent company Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, +0.00% GOOG, -0.08% , Microsoft Corp. MSFT, +0.17% and Intel Corp. INTC, +1.40% destroyed expectations for profit and revenue in third-quarter reports Thursday afternoon, collectively bringing in about $2.2 billion more profit and $19 billion more revenue than in the same quarter a year ago. Stock in those four companies jumped across the board in late trading, which would make them worth even more than the combined market cap of nearly $2 trillion they enjoyed at the end of Thursday’s trading session. Alphabet had perhaps the most astounding beat of the afternoon, as profit rose $1.12 billion and revenue $9.5 billion from a year before. The Google parent company reported third-quarter net income of $6.73 billi...