Generally strong growth across the global technology sector helped lift third-quarter earnings for our portfolio holdings.

As third-quarter earnings season gets underway in earnest, Wall Street is pleased with the numbers it’s seeing so far. Strong operating results are keeping this aging bull market alive.

Our Breakthrough Tech Profits portfolio holdings are no exception to this forward momentum. The earnings results to date bode well.

As it stands now, I see nothing that compels me to change my advice on any holding. Recommendations and buy targets not only remain in place, but our bullish assertions about technology in general and our holdings in particular were vindicated in the third quarter.

For those holdings that have reported earnings, let’s see where the numbers stand.

Alphabet (NSDQ: GOOG)

GOOG again generated tons of cash, mostly from its Google advertising segment.

The company in the third quarter generated revenue of $27.8 billion, a year-over-year increase of 24% from the same quarter last year. It marked a revenue record for the tech colossus. That number beat the consensus expectation of $22 billion.

About 87% (roughly $24.1 billion) derived from Google ad revenue. The majority of the remaining revenue, about $3.4 billion, came from other divisions such as a cloud services, YouTube TV and Google Play music.

Alphabet posted earnings of $7.8 billion in the quarter, up about 35% from the same year-ago period. Earnings per share (EPS) came in at $9.57 versus $8.34 as expected. 

Headcount was up to 78,101, compared to 69,953 for the same quarter last year. The biggest growth in headcount was in Google’s cloud business, which is a good sign for the fourth quarter and full-year 2017.

Amphenol (NYSE: APH)

APH exceeded earnings forecasts. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) came in at 88 cents, blowing past the consensus estimate of 79 cents. Quarterly revenue also beat estimates. The company posted revenue of $1.8 billion, versus projections of $1.7 billion.

The electronics maker should continue growing on the strength of new acquisitions and increased innovation of its products.

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)

EPS came in at 84 cents, beating consensus estimates of 72 cents. Revenue came in at $24.5 billion, exceeding consensus projections of $23.5 billion.

The important number that stands out: Microsoft hit its goal of a $20 billion revenue run rate for commercial cloud in the third quarter. Growth of its core Office 365 product helped propel Office commercial products and cloud services revenue to a 10% year-over-year increase in revenue.

Significantly, Microsoft’s strength continues to lie in its strategically imperative cloud computing segment, with its business cloud generating $20 billion in annualized revenue, reaching that threshold well ahead of the goal that the company set two years ago.

Silicon Laboratories (NSDQ: SLAB)

SLAB racked up yet another quarterly earnings beat, powered by its growing activities in the Internet of Things (IoT). Revenue came in at $198.7 million, a year-over-year increase of 11.6%. EPS came in at 46 cents, down from 45 cents in the same period a year ago.

These results exceeded management’s guidance, which called for revenue of $193 million to $199 million and EPS between 35 cents and 41 cents.

The most encouraging number to me came courtesy of IoT revenue, which surpassed 50% of total sales for the first time to reach $100 million, a year-over-year increase of 23% and a company record.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM)

TSM exceeded targets for third-quarter earnings and revenue. Management also guided higher for fourth quarter revenue.

TSM racked up EPS of 57 cents per American Depositary Receipt, down 3% from the same quarter a year ago but surpassing the EPS of 56 cents projected by analysts. Revenue dropped to $8.32 billion, for a year-over-year decline of 3%, but that figure beat the consensus estimate of $8.19 billion.

The solid numbers were driven by the company’s launch of new mobile products and burgeoning demand in such specialty niches as cryptocurrency mining.

Teradyne (NYSE: TER)

TER announced blow-out third quarter earnings and revenue, with a 59% gain in profit.

The company’s earnings rose to $107.7 million, or EPS of 54 cents, compared to $67.7 million, or EPS of 33 cents, in the same quarter a year ago. Consensus expectations called for EPS of 43 cents. Revenue rose 22.6% to $503.38 million, up from $410.48 million last year.

Demand for the company’s automated test equipment is strong, as global economic growth continues apace.

Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN)

TXN also topped Wall Street estimates for the quarter. The chip maker reported earnings of $1.29 billion, or EPS of $1.26, compared with $1.02 billion, or EPS of 98 cents, in the same year-ago period.

The chip maker’s revenue rose to $4.12 billion from $3.68 billion in the year-ago period. Analysts had expected EPS of $1.12 on revenue of $3.91 billion. These numbers bode well, because many of TXN’s peers have been struggling this year.

Trimble (NSDQ: TRMB)

Third-quarter revenue came in at $670 million, a year-over-year increase of 15%. Revenue was up significantly in all segments:

Earnings came in at $55.7 million, up 42% compared to the third quarter of 2016. EPS reached 22 cents compared to EPS of 15 cents in the same year-ago quarter.

Western Digital (NSDQ: WDC)

First, the somewhat disappointing bad news: The data-storage device maker said it wouldn’t agree with partner Toshiba’s (OTC: TOSBF) terms to work together in a new chip production unit.

Western Digital had sought a court injunction against Toshiba’s sale of its chip unit to a group led by private equity firm Bain Capital that includes the U.S. company’s rival Seagate (NSDQ: SDX).

Toshiba revealed earlier this month it was considering a joint partnership in a new chip production line (Fab 6) with Western Digital. However, Western Digital announced Thursday it wouldn’t go along with Toshiba’s terms of waiving consent rights as a condition to participate in the joint investment.

However, WDC’s operating results superseded the news. The disk drive manufacturer reported revenue of $5.18 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $5.1 billion and representing a year-over-year increase of 10%. EPS came in at $3.56, up 131% from the year-ago period and beating the consensus estimate of $3.30.