Google parent Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) reported fiscal third quarter earnings after the bell on Tuesday that beat analysts' estimates on the top and bottom lines as its cloud businesses continues to expand, kicking off Big Tech earnings with a robust showing.

The search giant reported earnings per share of $2.12 on revenue of $88.27 billion. Analysts were anticipating earnings per share of $1.83 on revenue of $86.44 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Advertising revenue topped $65.85 billion versus analysts' expectations of $65.5 billion, and up from the year ago period's $59.65 billion.

Here’s what Alphabet’s reported for some of its most significant metrics in the fiscal third quarter, according to Bloomberg data:

• Revenue: $88.27 vs. $86.44 billion expected ($76.69 billion in Q3 2023)

• Adjusted earnings per share: $2.12 vs. $1.83 expected ($1.55 in Q3 2023)

• Cloud revenue: $11.35 billion vs. $10.79 billion expected ($8.41 billion in Q3 2023)

• Ad revenue: $65.85 vs. $65.5 billion expected ($59.65 billion in Q3 2023)

Shares of Alphabet were climbed more than 3% in after-hours trading Tuesday.

The run up in cloud revenue comes as rivals Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon (AMZN) are also expected to grow their cloud businesses and ramp up investments in AI infrastructure. Google also faces competition on its home turf with the introduction of increasingly sophisticated AI-powered chatbots. On Monday the Information reported that Meta (META) is developing its own search engine to drive its Meta AI chatbot, providing users with conversational answers to their questions and prompts.

How the next generation of answer engines compete with Google's traditional and AI-boosted search remains a key question for the company.

Google is the first of the Big Tech platforms to report this week, with Meta and Microsoft set to release quarterly results on Wednesday, followed by Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL). While all the megacap stocks have posted gains so far this year, the companies have forged divergent paths as investors are no longer gauging their AI spending and the success of their business lines in lockstep.

Hamza Shaban is a reporter for Yahoo Finance covering markets and the economy. Follow Hamza on X @hshaban.

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