Oct 28 Earnings: Microsoft, Alphabet and ServiceNow After the Bell

Five major companies report earnings on October 28, 2026, with Microsoft, Alphabet and ServiceNow all printing after the closing bell and Biogen before the open. The slate carries consensus EPS estimates ranging from $0.56 at ServiceNow to $4.71 at Microsoft, and after-hours reports can gap the stock at the next open.

Who reports on October 28, 2026, and when?

Five companies report today, split between pre-market and after-hours timing. Knowing the slot matters because it decides whether you can react during regular hours or wake up to a gap.

Here is the full slate with the consensus EPS estimate for each name. These are consensus estimates and nothing more, a benchmark analysts have set, not a forecast of the result.

Note that GOOGL and GOOG are both Alphabet. GOOGL is the Class A share with voting rights and GOOG is the Class C share without. They report on the same number because they are the same company.

What does pre-market versus after-hours actually mean for a holder?

Pre-market and after-hours describe when the report lands relative to regular trading hours, which run 9:30am to 4:00pm ET on US exchanges. The timing changes how and when you can respond to what the company says.

Pre-market reports (Biogen)

Biogen reports before the open. That means the number is public while regular trading is closed, and the market digests it during the thin pre-market session before the official 9:30am open. For most retail holders, the practical effect is a gap: the stock can open at a different price than where it closed yesterday.

• You generally cannot trade at yesterday's close once the news is out.
• Pre-market volume is thin, so quoted prices can swing more than they will after the open.
• By the time regular trading starts, the initial reaction is often already priced in.

After-hours reports (Microsoft, Alphabet, ServiceNow)

After-hours reports land after the 4:00pm close, so the big moves happen in the extended-hours session when most people are not watching. Microsoft, both Alphabet share classes and ServiceNow all fall into this group today.

• The stock can move sharply in thin after-hours trading on the earnings call commentary.
• If you hold through the night, you may see a gap at the next morning's open rather than a smooth path there.
• Extended-hours prices are indicative; the real test is where the stock opens the following session.

What should a holder check this morning?

Check your exposure to today's reporters first, before the Biogen print and well before the after-hours names. Checking is not a trade; it is just knowing where you stand.

1. Find your exposure. Open your portfolio and see whether you hold BIIB, MSFT, GOOGL, GOOG or NOW, and how large each position is relative to the whole.
2. Note the cost and current value. Knowing where a position sits against your own entry tells you how a gap would land against your plan.
3. Check your alert levels. If you keep Target 1, Target 2 or a stop-loss on a position, confirm they reflect where you actually want to be told.

A consolidated view helps here, especially if these names sit across more than one account. If you hold Microsoft at one broker and Alphabet at another, a tool that merges them shows your true exposure in one place. That is the core case for using a portfolio tracker instead of a spreadsheet, and it matters most on days when several of your holdings report at once.

How do you set price alerts before an earnings print?

Set your price alerts before the report lands, because an after-hours or pre-market move can clear a level while you are away from the screen. An alert tells you your level was hit; it does not decide anything for you.

In PortfolioTrackr, alerts are price levels only: Target 1, Target 2 and a stop-loss on a position you own, or a price above or below on a watchlist entry. There is no earnings alert and no beat-or-miss alert, just the levels you choose.

• Every position and every watchlist level is checked once a minute while the market is open, and around the clock for crypto.
• A closed market is skipped, so stock and ETF levels are not checked overnight, at weekends or on exchange holidays.
• When a level is hit during open hours, you hear within a minute by email, WhatsApp, Telegram or push on every plan, with SMS on Pro and Lifetime.

One timing detail matters for tonight's after-hours names. Because extended-hours sessions are not regular trading hours, a level reached deep in after-hours may register when the market reopens rather than at the instant of the move. Treat your alert as a morning heads-up, not a live after-hours ticker.

If your holdings sit at different venues, syncing them makes the alert picture complete. You can see how that works in our guide to connecting a brokerage account to a portfolio tracker. Direct sync with Alpaca, Bybit and Interactive Brokers works on every plan, and the SnapTrade bridge connecting 42 brokers is available on Pro and Lifetime.

What is worth watching in each report, without guessing the result?

Watch whether the revenue and guidance fit the story the company has been telling, rather than fixating on the EPS line alone. The headline number is one data point; the detail underneath is what the market usually reacts to.

Microsoft (MSFT)

With Microsoft, the cloud and AI narrative has driven the stock's story, so Azure growth and any commentary on AI-related demand and capital spending tend to carry weight. The $4.71 consensus EPS is the benchmark; the forward commentary on the call is the other half.

Alphabet (GOOGL and GOOG)

For Alphabet, search advertising revenue, YouTube and Google Cloud are the segments the market parses, alongside anything said about AI products and spending. Both share classes report the same $2.94 consensus. Watch the segment mix, not only the group total.

ServiceNow (NOW)

ServiceNow is an enterprise software name, so subscription revenue and bookings or billings metrics usually move the story more than the $0.56 EPS consensus. As with the others, forward guidance is often what the after-hours session trades on.

Biogen (BIIB)

Biogen, the one pre-market reporter at $2.05 consensus EPS, is a biotech whose product pipeline and drug-specific revenue tend to dominate the reaction. The market reads this one during the thin pre-market window before the open.

How does currency factor in for non-US holders?

If you hold these US-listed names from outside the dollar, the earnings move and the exchange rate stack on top of each other. A stock can do one thing in dollars while your home-currency value does another.

PortfolioTrackr separates the two so you can see which is which. For a foreign holding:

• The cost is converted at the exchange rate of the day you bought it.
• The value is converted at today's rate.
• The currency gain or loss appears as its own line on the summary card and the P&L chart.

With 100 currencies supported and 10 years of daily rates behind them, a euro or rand holder of Microsoft can read the stock move and the FX move as separate things. That is useful on a day when several US names report and the dollar is moving too. For the broader setup of holding US stocks alongside crypto, see our guide to tracking stocks and crypto together in one app.

The bottom line

Five names report on October 28, 2026: Biogen before the open, and Microsoft, both Alphabet classes and ServiceNow after the close. The consensus EPS estimates are the benchmarks analysts have set, not forecasts of the outcome.

What a holder can do this morning is concrete and does not involve guessing: check your exposure to today's reporters, confirm your price-level alerts are where you want them before the print, and remember that after-hours and pre-market reports can open with a gap. The report tells you what happened; your own targets and plan tell you how it sits against them.

Frequently asked questions