Key Highlights

  • Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is priced at USD 338.32, down 1.83%, with a Market Capitalisation of USD 4,937.50 billion, trailing Net Income of USD 112.01 billion and a P/E of 38.78 in the net income ranking, as of the November 4, 2026 snapshot.
  • Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) posted USD 36.6 billion in GAAP profit for the three months ended September 30, 2026, a 32% gain, with sales of USD 92.3 billion.
  • At USD 278.99, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is 0.30% lower, valued at USD 3,401.17 billion, with trailing net income of USD 132.17 billion and a P/E of 14.57, according to the November 4, 2026 snapshot.
  • Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) booked USD 20.7 billion in third quarter 2026 net income, versus USD 21.2 billion previously, though Operating Income climbed to USD 28.1 billion.

1. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) recorded September quarter Revenue of USD 114.5 billion, a 12% rise, and diluted EPS of USD 2.10, up 14%. Price over earnings per share, the P/E ratio captures what buyers are willing to pay for Apple's profit. The screen shows trailing EPS of USD 8.72, EPS growth of 32.61% and a Dividend Yield of 0.31%. Gross Margin was 47.9%, including about 1 point from Tariff refunds, and EPS included USD 0.05 from the same refunds, so part of the profit is not a repeatable operating gain. Apple paid out USD 28 billion to shareholders and set a quarterly dividend of USD 0.27 per share, due November 16, 2026. Fiscal 2026 revenue reached USD 479 billion, a record. The danger is that some profit came from tariff refunds, and one published source flags rising memory costs as a margin pressure.

2. NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)

NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) reported GAAP net income of USD 59.7 billion for the quarter that closed July 26, 2026, a 126% increase, on revenue of USD 96.2 billion. NVDA features in this ranking since it orders companies by trailing profit after tax, which favours scale and not growth or valuation. Diluted EPS came to USD 2.46. Data Center revenue reached USD 89.0 billion, up 117%, which makes close to 93% of total sales from that segment, a simple calculation from two published numbers. Looking ahead, NVIDIA projects revenue of USD 108.0 billion, within a 2% band, with gross margin near 74.0%, assuming no Data Center compute revenue from China. The screen shows trailing EPS of USD 7.91, EPS growth of 125.15% and a dividend yield of 0.25%. The hazard is concentration in one Business line: nearly 93% of revenue came from Data Center, and the outlook excludes China compute sales.

3. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

In the net income ranking, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) sits at USD 507.12, down 2.83%, with a market capitalisation of USD 3,765.97 billion, trailing net income of USD 133.75 billion and a P/E of 26.48 as of the November 4, 2026 snapshot. MSFT is included here because the list gauges trailing profit after tax, favouring size over growth or valuation. Azure revenue grew 48%, and Microsoft Cloud revenue hit USD 63.9 billion, up 30%. Commercial remaining performance obligation, meaning contracted work not yet recognised as revenue, rose 73% to USD 677 billion. Non-GAAP net income was USD 36.4 billion, up 18%, since the adjusted figure strips out an OpenAI Investment effect that added USD 207 million to GAAP profit. The concern is concentration: earnings depend on cloud and AI Demand persisting, and trailing net income says nothing about the price paid for it.

4. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) posted third quarter 2026 net income of USD 26.2 billion, about 25% lower, although revenue increased 25% to USD 127.6 billion. Trailing net income sums four quarters, so single items can lift or lower it, which makes the quarterly detail decisive for GOOGL. On the top line, growth was 25%, reaching USD 127.6 billion, and operating income rose 30% to USD 40.6 billion, pushing the Operating Margin to 32% from 31%. A move into net non-operating expense of USD 8.2 billion, compared with USD 12.8 billion of net income a year before, accounts for profit slipping even as operating income grew. Google Cloud revenue grew 103% to USD 30.7 billion, and Cloud operating income reached USD 11.1 billion, up from USD 3.6 billion. The hazard is that non-operating swings can distort the headline profit, and the material reviewed does not describe how the shares reacted to the report.

5. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)

In the net income ranking, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is priced at USD 245.63, up 2.20%, with a market capitalisation of USD 2,649.44 billion, trailing net income of USD 77.67 billion and a P/E of 19.85 as of the November 4, 2026 snapshot. The P/E, price divided by earnings per share, indicates what buyers spend per dollar of AMZN earnings. The year-earlier quarter carried USD 9.5 billion of pre-tax gains linked to Anthropic holdings, which lifted the baseline. AWS sales increased 39% to USD 46.0 billion, and that unit earned USD 17.8 billion of operating income. The screen shows trailing EPS of USD 12.37 and EPS growth of 74.78%. The hazard: investment gains can push the Bottom Line around, as the earlier comparison illustrates, making net income by itself a potentially misleading gauge.

Where Things Stand

They point to scale rather than value. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) leads at USD 4,937.50 billion, NVDA follows at USD 4,869.65 billion, then MSFT, GOOGL and AMZN, and each reported solid operating results, yet P/E ratios from 14.57 to 38.78 show how differently investors price their earnings. Net income is the residual after all costs, taxes and one-time items, so a sizable profit suggests a mature company, not an inexpensive stock. Placing profit next to the P/E and the latest quarter shows what investors pay and what has changed.