Amazon vs. Alphabet: If I Could Buy Only One, I’d Choose This Stock

Vandita Jadeja

Fri, September 11, 2026 at 9:00 AM EDT 5 min read

Quick Read

• Google Cloud surged 82% YoY versus AWS’s 37%, yet GOOG trades at a lower P/E of 17 compared to AMZN’s 21, giving Alphabet the valuation edge.

• Alphabet’s operating margin of 34% nearly triples Amazon’s 13.7%, while the stock gained 37% over the past year versus Amazon’s 6%.

• Alphabet raised ~$70B and doubled long-term debt to $98B, betting its cash engine and Gemini’s reach into 90% of Fortune 100 companies on AI dominance.

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Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) both dropped Q2 2026 numbers that reshuffled the AI infrastructure hierarchy.

AWS posted its fastest growth in 18 quarters, while Google Cloud rocketed 82% year over year. Both are pouring tens of billions into chips, data centers, and models. If you can only own one, the differences below matter more than the shared headlines.

Cloud Reaccelerates for Both, but One Is Pulling Away Faster

Amazon reported Q2 revenue of $200.61B, up 19.6% YoY, with AWS at $42.23B and a 39.4% operating margin. CEO Andy Jassy said “AWS is booming, growing 36.7% year-over-year in Q2, our fastest growth in 18 quarters, and our AI and Chips businesses each eclipsed run rates of more than $25 billion.”

Backlog sits at $496 billion. Retail is quietly re-accelerating too, with Advertising up 26% and Amazon Now gross sales growing 80%+ QoQ.

Alphabet posted $119.8B in revenue, up 24.2% YoY, its 12th straight quarter of double-digit growth. Google Cloud hit $24.77B with operating margin expanding to 35.6% from 20.7% a year earlier. Backlog reached $514 billion.

Sundar Pichai told investors “Q2 was an amazing quarter, with Alphabet revenues growing 24% year-over-year and Google Cloud revenues accelerating to 82% growth.” Search still grew 17% despite AI Overviews fears.

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