Europe's top court on Thursday upheld Google's fine of around 4.1 billion euros ($4.67 billion) over alleged anti-competitive practices.
In 2018, the European Commission slapped Google with the record-breaking penalty on the grounds that it abused Android's mobile dominance to give unfair advantage to its own apps via pre-installation deals with smartphone makers.
Google has been appealing the ruling through the EU court system. But the European Court of Justice (ECJ), Europe's top court, dismissed Google's appeal.
"The Court of Justice dismisses the appeal brought by Google and Alphabet against that judgment of the General Court, thereby confirming the penalty imposed on them, as revised by the General Court, for their anticompetitive practices relating to the Android operating system," the ECJ said in a press release.
CNBC has reached out to Google for comment.
In 2022, a lower EU court reduced the fine to the current 4.1 billion euros from 4.34 billion euros previously.
Google has argued that the Android operating system provides choice for users and supports developers and businesses across Europe.
"Android provides more choice for everyone and supports thousands of businesses. This judgment fails to recognize our significant investment to ensure Android remains open, interoperable and free," a Google spokesperson told CNBC.
"In any event, we adapted our agreements to comply with the initial decision back in 2018 and we remain focused on continued innovation and openness for our users, partners and developers."
Google has attempted to allay the Commission's concerns over the years such as allowing Android users to switch between search engines and browsers so they are not tied to the company's apps.
EU's Big Tech crackdownThe European Commission, the EU's executive arm, has been pursuing Google for more than a decade after first opening proceedings against the company in 2015.
Google has been in the crosshairs of the Commission over several alleged antitrust practices. Last year, the Commission hit Google with a 2.95 billion euro fine for anti-competitive practices in its advertising technology business.
While antitrust is still a focus for the Commission, the regulator is now looking at the practices of big technology firms under the sweeping Digital Markets Act, with companies like Apple and Meta also under scrutiny.
Europe's treatment of U.S. technology companies has drawn the ire of President Donald Trump and other U.S. officials. Last month, Trump threatened to impose a "100% TARIFF" on goods of any country that imposes a digital services tax on U.S. Companies. European countries such as France and Spain have imposed a digital services tax.
In March, the U.S. ambassador to the EU Andrew Puzder told CNBC that Europe "can't over regulate" and hit companies with "huge fines" if it is going to participate in the AI economy.
The EU's top court will decide Thursday whether to uphold a record 4.1 billion euro ($4.7 billion) fine the bloc slapped on Google for anticompetitive practices related to its Android operating system.
In 2018, the European Commission imposed the fine on Google for abusing Android's dominance in the industry. Photo: josh edelson/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesAlphabet on Thursday lost its appeal against an antitrust fine imposed on the tech giant by a top European court.
The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled to uphold a record €4.1 billion ($4.68 billion) fine over alleged anti-competition practices.
About the Author
Nora Redmond is a MarketWatch reporter based in London.
In the latest trading session, Alphabet Inc. (GOOG - Free Report) closed at $357.89, marking a +1.29% move from the previous day. The stock's performance was ahead of the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.22%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a drop of 0.03%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw a decrease of 0.66%.
The stock of company has fallen by 1.41% in the past month, leading the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 2.58% and undershooting the S&P 500's loss of 1.21%.
The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Alphabet Inc. in its upcoming release. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $2.86, signifying a 23.81% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. At the same time, our most recent consensus estimate is projecting a revenue of $101 billion, reflecting a 23.59% rise from the equivalent quarter last year.
In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $14.3 per share and a revenue of $422.05 billion, indicating changes of +32.28% and +23.08%, respectively, from the former year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Alphabet Inc. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.08% higher within the past month. Right now, Alphabet Inc. possesses a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
In the context of valuation, Alphabet Inc. is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 24.71. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 14.8, so one might conclude that Alphabet Inc. is trading at a premium comparatively.
It is also worth noting that GOOG currently has a PEG ratio of 1.51. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. The Internet - Services industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.61 as trading concluded yesterday.
The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 159, positioning it in the bottom 36% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
Looking for a stock that has been consistently beating earnings estimates and might be well positioned to keep the streak alive in its next quarterly report? Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) , which belongs to the Zacks Internet - Services industry, could be a great candidate to consider.
This internet search leader has an established record of topping earnings estimates, especially when looking at the previous two reports. The company boasts an average surprise for the past two quarters of 51.64%.
For the last reported quarter, Alphabet came out with earnings of $5.11 per share versus the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.64 per share, representing a surprise of 93.56%. For the previous quarter, the company was expected to post earnings of $2.57 per share and it actually produced earnings of $2.82 per share, delivering a surprise of 9.73%.
Price and EPS Surprise
With this earnings history in mind, recent estimates have been moving higher for Alphabet. In fact, the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) for the company is positive, which is a great sign of an earnings beat, especially when you combine this metric with its nice Zacks Rank.
Our research shows that stocks with the combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time. In other words, if you have 10 stocks with this combination, the number of stocks that beat the consensus estimate could be as high as seven.
The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a version of the Zacks Consensus whose definition is related to change. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier.
Alphabet has an Earnings ESP of +1.49% at the moment, suggesting that analysts have grown bullish on its near-term earnings potential. When you combine this positive Earnings ESP with the stock's Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), it shows that another beat is possibly around the corner.
With the Earnings ESP metric, it's important to note that a negative value reduces its predictive power; however, a negative Earnings ESP does not indicate an earnings miss.
Many companies end up beating the consensus EPS estimate, though this is not the only reason why their shares gain. Additionally, some stocks may remain stable even if they end up missing the consensus estimate.
Because of this, it's really important to check a company's Earnings ESP ahead of its quarterly release to increase the odds of success. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG | GOOG Price Prediction) is one of the cleanest bull setups in mega-cap tech right now. Cloud is compounding at 63%, operating margins are expanding, and management just committed to nearly doubling AI infrastructure spend. The stock trades at $353.33 after a 6.08% pullback over the past month, and I see that dip as an entry point.
Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for Alphabet is $425.86, implying 20.53% upside over the next 12 months. My recommendation is buy, with 90% confidence.
24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary Metric Value Current Price $353.33 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $425.86 Upside 20.53% Recommendation BUY Confidence Level 90% A Blowout Quarter, Then a June Pullback Alphabet has nearly doubled in a year, up 99.75% over 12 months and 12.74% year to date. The stock now sits 6% below its 52-week high of $404.23 after a June cooling.
The Q1 2026 report on April 29, 2026 was the catalyst. Revenue hit $109.90 billion, up 21.8% year over year, and EPS came in at $5.11 versus a $2.63 consensus.
Google Cloud grew 63% to $20.03 billion, with backlog nearly doubling quarter over quarter to $462 billion. Recent retail sentiment took a hit on news of two top AI researchers departing to OpenAI and Anthropic, but the stock has stabilized.
Why Bulls See a Breakout Ahead The bull thesis rests on three pillars. First, cloud momentum is undeniable. Cloud operating margin expanded from 17.8% to 32.9% year over year, and revenue from products built on Gemini grew nearly 800% year over year.
Second, search is thriving. Query volume is at an all-time high, with Search revenue up 19%. Third, the ecosystem monetizes. Paid subscriptions hit 350 million, and Waymo now runs over 500,000 autonomous rides weekly.
The Street backs this up. GOOG carries 14 Strong Buy and 44 Buy ratings against zero Sells. If cloud continues to compound at 60%+ and AI monetization inflects in search, a bull case toward $443 becomes readily defensible.
The Risks Worth Watching The bear case starts with capital intensity. Alphabet raised 2026 CapEx guidance to $180 billion to $190 billion, and CFO Anat Ashkenazi said “We expect our 2027 CapEx to significantly increase compared to 2026.” Q1 free cash flow already fell 46.63% year over year.
Bulls counter that this reflects deliberate investment against unprecedented internal and external demand for AI compute resources, not deteriorating unit economics.
Other watch items: a $3.5 billion European Commission fine in Q3 2025, competitive pressure from OpenAI and Anthropic, and Q1 net income padded by $36.91 billion in unrealized equity gains that will not recur. A bearish scenario points to $344.91, roughly flat from here.
Alphabet Price Prediction 2026-2030 My 24/7 Wall St. price target of $425.86 is a buy with 90% confidence. The tipping factor is Google Cloud’s $462 billion backlog, which locks in growth visibility that no other Alphabet segment has offered before.
I’d be a buyer here if you believe cloud can sustain 40%+ growth into 2027. I’d stay sidelined if you think 2026 CapEx of $190 billion permanently caps free cash flow generation. On balance, the risk/reward favors owning it.
Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 $425.86 2027 $478 2028 $535 2029 $580 2030 $624 These projections assume Alphabet continues executing on cloud, search, and AI monetization. Significant upside or downside could result from Waymo commercialization, regulatory action, or shifts in AI competitive positioning.
Alphabet (GOOGL, Financials) is under renewed regulatory pressure after South Korea's antitrust regulator accused Google of using its dominance in the Android a
The artificial intelligence (AI) investing space has taken a bit of a hit recently. Several stocks are selling off, and a handful of them appear to be flashing buying signals. My top AI stock pick has been Nvidia (NVDA 0.14%), and it's flashing a rare "double down" signal. What's a double down? It's when you double your initial investment because the deal has gotten so good.
I think that's what a lot of investors should do with Nvidia's stock, as it hasn't been this cheap this late in the year for a long time.
Image source: Getty Images.
Nvidia has major growth coming again next year One of the biggest concerns in the market right now has to do with AI data center spending. This is a fair concern, as hundreds of billions of dollars are being poured into this build-out. At the start of 2026, the four major AI hyperscalers said they expected to spend about $650 billion on their combined capital expenditures in 2026. However, next year, Nvidia projects that sum will rise to $1 trillion. While some investors may be tempted to brush off that projection, the reality is that Nvidia likely can make that forecast with confidence based on the orders it already has booked for next year. Hyperscalers have already offered some support for this prediction: Alphabet (GOOG +0.96%) (GOOGL +0.64%), for instance, has told investors to expect "significantly" higher capital expenditures in 2027 compared to 2026.
Today's Change
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That gives Nvidia investors reasons to feel optimistic about the stock, as long as all of that expected growth hasn't been priced into it already. Considering where it's valued, I think it's pretty clear that it hasn't been priced in, and that's where I found my buying signal.
From a forward earnings perspective, Nvidia now trades at the same valuation as the S&P 500 (^GSPC +0.06%): about 21.5 times forward earnings.
NVDA PE Ratio (Forward 1y) data by YCharts.
While Nvidia tends to start the year off with a fairly low forward earnings ratio, it usually gets far higher by the time July rolls around -- but not this year. Furthermore, investors know more growth is coming in 2027, and based on those projections, the stock trades at a mere 15 times 1-year forward earnings. That's a pretty compelling buying signal, and I think investors should take advantage of it. The AI sector's momentum will come back eventually, and with the next set of earnings results starting to roll out over the next few weeks, "eventually" could be fairly soon. I think that earnings season could be the catalyst that jump-starts Nvidia stock, making it a smart buy right now.
Keithen Drury has positions in Alphabet and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
SummaryAlphabet is rated a 'Hold' due to the extended valuation, despite robust business fundamentals and AI verticalization.GOOG's revenue is projected to grow 17%–20% annually through 2026, with stable operating margins in the low 30% range.The current valuation implies high single-digit returns, while much of the near-term upside appears to be priced in.Selling put options on GOOG can yield ~11% in annualized income, offering a win-win for income-focused investors seeking lower entry points.Looking for option income ideas that focus on capital preservation? I offer this and much more at my exclusive investing ideas service, Option Income Builder. Learn More » mustafaU/E+ via Getty Images
A few months ago, I wrote an article titled "The Three Key Reasons We're Downgrading Alphabet."
In it, I made the case that the shares of Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) no longer looked like
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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of GOOG either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is trading higher on Wednesday. It has gained about 5% in just three days.
The uptrend may continue, as the shares are testing resistance and may be on the verge of a breakout. This is why Alphabet is the Stock of the Day.
Resistance is a price level at which a large number of shares are for sale. If a stock is trending higher, it’s because there aren’t enough sell orders to fill all of the buy orders.
Those who wish to acquire shares are forced to outbid each other and pay premiums if they want to get sellers interested. This forces the shares into an uptrend.
This changes at resistance — and because there are enough sell orders to fill the buy orders, the rally will end or at least pause.
There tends to be resistance at price levels that had previously been support. This can be seen on Alphabet’s chart.
In April, the $374 level was support. People who bought shares at this level were glad they did when the price went higher. But when this support broke in early June, they changed their minds. They decided that selling was actually a mistake.
Some also decided to sell out of their positions if they could eventually do so at breakeven. When Alphabet rallied back to $374, they placed sell orders. These created resistance at the former support level.
The same dynamic is currently taking place at the $358 level. As you can see, this level was support in early June. Now it has become resistance because of buyers’ remorse. People who bought at $358 are now selling, and this has created resistance.
If a stock can clear this resistance and stay above it, traders call this a breakout. This can be a bullish dynamic because it shows the sellers who created the resistance are gone. They have either canceled or finished their orders.
Buyers may once again be forced to outbid each other to attract sellers. This can keep Alphabet’s uptrend intact.
Photo: Markus Mainka via Shutterstock
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A Google Cloud logo is pictured at a trade fair in Hannover Messe, in Hanover, Germany, April 22, 2024. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse//File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
JOHANNESBURG, July 1 (Reuters) - Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab has exceeded a five-year target to invest $1 billion in Africa, it said on Wednesday, as it made public initiatives on infrastructure and development of AI to accelerate the continent's digital growth.
They follow on from Google's launch of a cloud for the Johannesburg region in 2025.
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Here are the details of the new initiatives that Google, owned by Alphabet, announced at the first Africa Cloud Summit in Johannesburg.
Google will establish a connectivity hub in South Africa's Eastern Cape, the first of four planned connectivity hubs on the continent.
The facility will link Africa to Australia via the Umoja subsea cable and to India through a new route, strengthening internet resilience and capacity.
Africa's first applied AI lab in Ghana will pair local startups with Google researchers and provide early access to its AI models.
A more than $1 million programme in partnership with UK actor Idris Elba's Akuna Group will train underrepresented creators in AI-driven storytelling.
Google's Economic and Community Development programme and WeThinkCode have committed to build a 3 million rand ($183,468) digital innovation centre in Soweto, Johannesburg.
Google also said its startup accelerator programme will back 15 South African firms as part of Google's pledge to back 50 African ventures between 2024 and 2028.
"The AI opportunity for Africa is significant, and Google is committed to doing our part working with Africans to help Africa realise it," James Manyika, Google's senior vice president for research and technology, told reporters.
($1 = 16.3516 rand)
Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; editing by Barbara Lewis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
Nqobile is a Johannesburg-based reporter covering the South African retail, telecom and tech sectors. She has been a journalists for about 10 years. She joined Reuters in 2015 and has covered a variety of beats ranging from pharma, health to property and banking.
The RulingStockholm’s Patent and Market Court ruled in PriceRunner’s favor, awarding $1.97 billion in damages. The award compensates for lost revenue caused by Google’s preferential treatment of its own comparison-shopping service over independent price-comparison services—conduct the court found also drove up costs for consumers.
“When markets work well, everyone benefits. Consumers get higher quality at lower cost, companies stay focused on serving customers rather than defending position, and society is better off for it,” said Dan Greaves, Head of Communications and Policy at Klarna. “This ruling supports a healthier, more competitive market for the way people compare products and services.”
What Is PriceRunner?Klarna Shares Shoot HigherKLAR Price Action: At the time of publication, Klarna shares are trading 6.27% higher at $21.50, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
Image via Shutterstock
This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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Klarna-owned price comparison website PriceRunner has prevailed in its antitrust lawsuit against Google.
A Swedish court on Wednesday (July 1) awarded PriceRunner $1.97 billion, Klara said in a news release, calling it compensation for lost revenue from “Google’s preferential treatment” of its comparison-shopping service over similar, independent services.
“When markets work well, everyone benefits,” Dan Greaves, head of communications and policy at the Stockholm-based FinTech, said in the release.
“Consumers get higher quality at lower cost, companies stay focused on serving customers rather than defending position, and society is better off for it. This ruling supports a healthier, more competitive market for the way people compare products and services — and that is good for everyone who shops.”
Klarna noted that any award is subject to appeal by Google, and would also be reduced by sharing arrangements with former PriceRunner investors “and Klarna’s litigation funder, and by applicable taxation.”
The award had been delayed three times as the court dealt with a heavy workload, PYMNTS reported last week.
PriceRunner had launched the suit before being acquired by Klarna’s in 2022, seeking about $2 billion in damages. However, the company later said that this figure would likely rise, pointing to the ongoing nature of Google’s alleged violations
During a three-month trial last year, PriceRunner had sought $8.3 billion in antitrust damages. The company’s claim followed a decision by the European Commission decision in 2017, which found Google abused its dominance in online comparison shopping. The Court of Justice of the European Union upheld that decision in 2024.
“PriceRunner alleges that Google systematically demoted competing price comparison services in its search results while favoring its own Google Shopping product, causing sustained and quantifiable commercial damage to PriceRunner over more than a decade,” Klarna said in a February press release.
Google has argued that it made major adjustments in 2017 to meet EU requirements. The company said those changes have successfully expanded participation, with the number of price comparison sites using its platform jumping from seven at the time to 1,550 in October.
Google parent Alphabet noted in a recent regulatory filing that it is dealing with antitrust proceedings, private individual and collective actions in the U.S., throughout Europe and in additional jurisdictions.
“We believe we have strong arguments against these open claims and will defend ourselves vigorously,” that filing said.
A Swedish market court on Wednesday ordered Google to pay some 14.3 billion kronor ($1.46 billion) in damages to price comparison site Pricerunner for promoting its own shopping comparisons in search results.
The Google logo is pictured at the entrance to the Google offices in London, Britain January 18, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
SummaryCompaniestheSTOCKHOLM, July 1 (Reuters) - A Swedish court said on Wednesday Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab is to pay the equivalent of around 14.3 billion Swedish crowns ($1.5 billion) in antitrust damages to Klarna's (KLAR.N), opens new tab price comparison company PriceRunner.
"PriceRunner is considered to have suffered damage as a result of Google having illegally favoured its price comparison service for many years," the Stockholm Patent and Market Court said in a statement.
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PriceRunner in 2022 sued Google for around €2.1 billion ($2.4 billion) at the court, saying the company breached antitrust laws by manipulating search results in favour of its own comparison shopping services.
($1 = 9.7291 Swedish crowns)
($1 = 0.8775 euros)
Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, editing by Essi Lehto
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
According to Strategas chief chartist Todd Sohn, the search giant boasts the “best chart” in big tech right now, carving out a “different story” as its closest sector rivals start to look “ugly” on a technical basis.
The Big Tech DivergenceAppearing on The Real Eisman Playbook podcast with famed investor Steve Eisman, Sohn highlighted a striking technical divergence ripping through the technology sector. While the broader market cap-weighted indices continue to float near highs, under the hood, foundational tech icons are showing severe signs of exhaustion.
“If you just compared on one screen Google, Alphabet… Meta, Microsoft, you’d have Google would be the contrast there,” Sohn observed, noting that the company’s chart looks exceptionally strong.
Sohn labeled Microsoft’s recent price action a “red flag,” describing it as “ugly compared to again a market that’s making a new high.”
The AI Power ConnectionEisman chimed in on the connection, noting that Alphabet and GE Vernova are likely “in cahoots together, powering… the AI of Google.”
While Sohn warned that Alphabet did get “very extended” and “super overbought” recently—likening it to a runner who is “exhausted” after running a four-minute mile—he remains highly constructive on the name.
For investors looking for an entry point, Sohn suggests that any near-term profit-taking will ultimately present an attractive opportunity, concluding that the stock “will likely be buyable.”
GOOG’s Technical ChartAs of the June 30 close at $353.33 apiece, GOOG’s technical profile presents a mixed, transitional picture as the stock cools off from its aggressive May highs. Here is a breakdown of the current technical indicators, according to Benzinga Pro.
How Has GOOG Performed In 2026?GOOG shares have advanced by 12.60% year-to-date, down 6.14% over the last month, and up 99.14% over the year. The stock closed 0.58% higher at $353.33 apiece on Tuesday, and it was 0.37% lower in premarket on Wednesday.
Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that GOOG maintains a weak price trend in the short term but a strong trend in the long and medium terms, with a poor value score.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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Though Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) stock suffered a significant correction in the last month and erased approximately $230 billion from Alphabet’s market capitalization, Wall Street has remained largely bullish regarding the blue-chip company’s future.
Google stock price one-month chart. Source: Google The latest signs of persistent optimism came on the final two days of June when two prominent analysts provided revised ratings and 12-month price targets for GOOGL.
Morgan Stanley’s (NYSE: MS) Brian Nowak was the first when he rated Google stock as a ‘Buy’ while lifting his forecast from $375 to $415.
According to the Wall Street expert, GOOGL’s latest downturn paired with the bullish expectations for data center capacity construction and TPU sales by 2028 ensured that investors have ‘a tactical buying opportunity for one of the best positioned AI companies around.’
On June 30, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) analyst Justin Post chipped in by reiterating his Google stock ‘Buy’ recommendation and the $430 price target for the next 12 months for a 20.32% predicted rally from $357.37 at the latest closing bell.
Analysts predict Google stock price in the next 12 months Zooming out reveals that the notes issued by Nowak and Post represent a continuation of the overall Wall Street attitude toward Alphabet.
Specifically, Google shares are considered a ‘Strong Buy’ by prominent analysts and are, on average, expected to rally 19.96% to $428.71 in the coming 52 weeks, per the data Finbold retrieved from TipRanks on July 1.
Wall Street sets Google stock price for the next 12 months. Source: TipRanks Additionally, ‘Buy’ recommendations dominated June ratings despite Alphabet’s stock market troubles through the month. Indeed, out of the twelve notable target revisions, only two – UBS’ Stephen Ju and Bernstein’s Chad Dillard – estimated GOOGL shares are a ‘Hold,’ and none positioned the equity as a ‘Sell.’
Furthermore, despite being ‘Neutral’ about the stock, both Wall Street analysts predicted Google stock would rally. According to Ju, GOOGL will climb 14.73% to $410 in the next 12 months, and, per Dillard’s forecast, the shares will rise 9.13% to $390 within the same timeframe.
Featured image via Shutterstock
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Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $357.37, moving +1.05% from the previous trading session. The stock's change was more than the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.79%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.26%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 1.52%.
Heading into today, shares of the internet search leader had lost 6.04% over the past month, lagging the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 4.61% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.82%.
The upcoming earnings release of Alphabet will be of great interest to investors. The company is forecasted to report an EPS of $2.86, showcasing a 23.81% upward movement from the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $101 billion, indicating a 23.59% upward movement from the same quarter last year.
In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $14.3 per share and a revenue of $422.05 billion, indicating changes of +32.28% and +23.08%, respectively, from the former year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Alphabet should also be noted by investors. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the business operations and its ability to generate profits.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.08% higher. Currently, Alphabet is carrying a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Alphabet has a Forward P/E ratio of 24.73 right now. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 14.82.
We can also see that GOOGL currently has a PEG ratio of 1.51. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. As the market closed yesterday, the Internet - Services industry was having an average PEG ratio of 1.58.
The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 160, positioning it in the bottom 35% of all 250+ industries.
The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
Britain's competition regulator on Tuesday opened a consultation on a proposal that app developers be allowed to redirect users to payment methods outside Apple and Google app stores.
Growth investors focus on stocks that are seeing above-average financial growth, as this feature helps these securities garner the market's attention and deliver solid returns. But finding a great growth stock is not easy at all.
In addition to volatility, these stocks carry above-average risk by their very nature. Also, one could end up losing from a stock whose growth story is actually over or nearing its end.
However, the task of finding cutting-edge growth stocks is made easy with the help of the Zacks Growth Style Score (part of the Zacks Style Scores system), which looks beyond the traditional growth attributes to analyze a company's real growth prospects.
Our proprietary system currently recommends Alphabet Inc. (GOOG - Free Report) as one such stock. This company not only has a favorable Growth Score, but also carries a top Zacks Rank.
Research shows that stocks carrying the best growth features consistently beat the market. And for stocks that have a combination of a Growth Score of A or B and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy), returns are even better.
Here are three of the most important factors that make the stock of this company a great growth pick right now.
Earnings GrowthArguably nothing is more important than earnings growth, as surging profit levels is what most investors are after. For growth investors, double-digit earnings growth is highly preferable, as it is often perceived as an indication of strong prospects (and stock price gains) for the company under consideration.
While the historical EPS growth rate for Alphabet is 21.5%, investors should actually focus on the projected growth. The company's EPS is expected to grow 32.3% this year, crushing the industry average, which calls for EPS growth of 13.1%.
Cash Flow GrowthCash is the lifeblood of any business, but higher-than-average cash flow growth is more beneficial and important for growth-oriented companies than for mature companies. That's because, high cash accumulation enables these companies to undertake new projects without raising expensive outside funds.
Right now, year-over-year cash flow growth for Alphabet is 32.8%, which is higher than many of its peers. In fact, the rate compares to the industry average of -5.5%.
While investors should actually consider the current cash flow growth, it's worth taking a look at the historical rate too for putting the current reading into proper perspective. The company's annualized cash flow growth rate has been 23.2% over the past 3-5 years versus the industry average of 10.7%.
Promising Earnings Estimate RevisionsSuperiority of a stock in terms of the metrics outlined above can be further validated by looking at the trend in earnings estimate revisions. A positive trend is of course favorable here. Empirical research shows that there is a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.
There have been upward revisions in current-year earnings estimates for Alphabet. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has surged 0.1% over the past month.
Bottom LineWhile the overall earnings estimate revisions have made Alphabet a Zacks Rank #2 stock, it has earned itself a Growth Score of B based on a number of factors, including the ones discussed above.
You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
This combination positions Alphabet well for outperformance, so growth investors may want to bet on it.
Google on Tuesday released Nano Banana 2 Lite, the newest version of its in-house AI video and image generator. This version is significantly faster and more affordable than its previous release, the company claims.
The model has much lower latency and can produce images in 4 seconds, which makes it a good option if you need to workshop images and produce a large number of them in quick succession, Google says. It costs $0.034 per 1,000 images, which makes it quite affordable for people looking to draft and perfect their content at scale.
Image Credits:Google The release follows last summer’s launch of the original Nano Banana, powered by Gemini 3.1 Flash, and the February release Nano Banana 2. The latter introduced new powers for the generator, including the ability to create more realistic images. The company also offers Nano Banana Pro, which is described as a more powerful (and more expensive) model for advanced use cases.
While Nano Banana 2 is referred to as a “generalist workhorse,” Banana 2 Lite is optimized for high-volume workflows that need to occur at a rapid pace, Google claims.
Image Credits:Google Despite consumer backlash over so-called AI slop created by image models, companies continue to invest heavily in AI tools that can generate imagery and videos. However, Google often markets its models as convenient tools that can assist with the creation of advertisements.
That said, the ties between Hollywood and AI companies continue to tighten — much to the consternation of some creative communities and audiences. Indeed, Google just struck a $75 million deal with the much-beloved indie studio A24 — a partnership that has suffered significant criticism from fans.
Nano Banana 2 Lite is now available through Google AI Studio and the Gemini API, as well as Google’s Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform. Google says it serves as a replacement for Nano Banana, which the company now refers to as its “legacy model.”
Also on Tuesday, Google announced a wider release of Gemini Omni Flash, which was initially introduced at Google I/O earlier this year. Flash costs $0.10 per second of video output. Plus, Google showed off a new demo app, Omni Product Studio, which it says can take static images generated by Omni and transform them into “cinematic e-commerce videos.”
“Building with generative media is often about creative iteration,” the company said in a blog. “With these two models, developers can build comprehensive, end-to-end multimedia experiences that connect rapid image generation with video creation and editing.”
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.
Lucas is a senior writer at TechCrunch, where he covers artificial intelligence, consumer tech, and startups. He previously covered AI and cybersecurity at Gizmodo. You can contact Lucas by emailing [email protected].
Alphabet stock is showing positive momentum. What should traders watch with GOOG? What Is Driving Alphabet’s Inclusion in the Dow?S&P Dow Jones Indices said Alphabet will replace Verizon Communications in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, effective before the market opens on June 29. The index provider pointed to Alphabet’s larger market value, higher share price, and exposure to faster-growing areas like advertising, cloud services, AI, hardware, autonomous systems, health technology and digital media distribution.
Alphabet’s AI narrative also remains a swing factor for sentiment after reports that at least five researchers left Google’s core AI team over seven days, including Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer to OpenAI and DeepMind’s John Jumper to Anthropic.
Alphabet also faces headline risk on the regulatory front with YouTube’s CEO set to testify at a child-safety hearing tentatively scheduled for July 28, after the White House backed the James T. Woods Act and pushed for CEOs to be substituted.
Despite Tuesday’s slight pullback, long-term sentiment received a boost as Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak maintained an Overweight rating on Alphabet and raised the price target from $375 to $415.
Critical Price Levels for GOOG to WatchAlphabet is in a "cooling phase" on the medium-term view: it’s trading 2.1% below the 20-day SMA ($356.25) and 5% below the 50-day SMA ($367.19), but it’s still 3.4% above the 100-day SMA ($337.13) and 10.9% above the 200-day SMA ($314.44). That mix often reads as consolidation inside a broader uptrend, which lines up with the stock’s 96.51% gain over the past 12 months.
MACD is the cleaner momentum lens right now, with the indicator below its signal line and the histogram negative—another way of saying upside pressure has cooled and buyers may need a fresh push to regain control. Structurally, the 20-day SMA sitting below the 50-day SMA is a short-term bearish crossover, but the longer-term golden cross (50-day above 200-day) remains in place after July 2025.
Key Resistance: $373.50 — near the short-term moving-average cluster where rebounds can stall. Key Support: $343.50 — close to the 100-day trend region where buyers have recently defended pullbacks. How Alphabet Generates Revenue and Its Business ModelAlphabet is a holding company that wholly owns internet giant Google, and it still gets slightly less than 90% of revenue from Google services—mostly advertising sales. That same segment also includes subscriptions (like YouTube TV and YouTube Music), platform revenue (Play Store), and devices (Chromebooks, Pixel phones, and smart home products).
Google Cloud contributes roughly 10% of revenue, while bets like Waymo, Verily, and Google Fiber sit in the "other" bucket. In the context of Dow inclusion, the breadth of those business lines is part of why the index provider framed Alphabet as a more representative large-cap exposure to modern growth areas.
Alphabet Stock Strengths and WeaknessesBelow is the Benzinga Edge scorecard for Alphabet Inc. Class C Capital Stock, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses compared to the broader market:
The Verdict: Alphabet Benzinga Edge signal reveals a growth-and-momentum-led profile with very strong quality, but a less compelling value setup. For longer-term bulls, that typically means pullbacks toward support matter more than chasing strength into resistance.
GOOG Stock Price Activity on TuesdayGOOG Stock Price Activity: Alphabet shares were trading at $351.08 at the time of publication on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Image: Shutterstock
Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Investors often turn to recommendations made by Wall Street analysts before making a Buy, Sell, or Hold decision about a stock. While media reports about rating changes by these brokerage-firm employed (or sell-side) analysts often affect a stock's price, do they really matter?
Let's take a look at what these Wall Street heavyweights have to say about Alphabet Inc. (GOOG - Free Report) before we discuss the reliability of brokerage recommendations and how to use them to your advantage.
Alphabet currently has an average brokerage recommendation (ABR) of 1.29, on a scale of 1 to 5 (Strong Buy to Strong Sell), calculated based on the actual recommendations (Buy, Hold, Sell, etc.) made by 55 brokerage firms. An ABR of 1.29 approximates between Strong Buy and Buy.
Of the 55 recommendations that derive the current ABR, 45 are Strong Buy and four are Buy. Strong Buy and Buy respectively account for 81.8% and 7.3% of all recommendations.
Brokerage Recommendation Trends for GOOG
Check price target & stock forecast for Alphabet here>>>
The ABR suggests buying Alphabet, but making an investment decision solely on the basis of this information might not be a good idea. According to several studies, brokerage recommendations have little to no success guiding investors to choose stocks with the most potential for price appreciation.
Do you wonder why? As a result of the vested interest of brokerage firms in a stock they cover, their analysts tend to rate it with a strong positive bias. According to our research, brokerage firms assign five "Strong Buy" recommendations for every "Strong Sell" recommendation.
This means that the interests of these institutions are not always aligned with those of retail investors, giving little insight into the direction of a stock's future price movement. It would therefore be best to use this information to validate your own analysis or a tool that has proven to be highly effective at predicting stock price movements.
Zacks Rank, our proprietary stock rating tool with an impressive externally audited track record, categorizes stocks into five groups, ranging from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), and is an effective indicator of a stock's price performance in the near future. Therefore, using the ABR to validate the Zacks Rank could be an efficient way of making a profitable investment decision.
Zacks Rank Should Not Be Confused With ABRAlthough both Zacks Rank and ABR are displayed in a range of 1--5, they are different measures altogether.
The ABR is calculated solely based on brokerage recommendations and is typically displayed with decimals (example: 1.28). In contrast, the Zacks Rank is a quantitative model allowing investors to harness the power of earnings estimate revisions. It is displayed in whole numbers -- 1 to 5.
It has been and continues to be the case that analysts employed by brokerage firms are overly optimistic with their recommendations. Because of their employers' vested interests, these analysts issue more favorable ratings than their research would support, misguiding investors far more often than helping them.
On the other hand, earnings estimate revisions are at the core of the Zacks Rank. And empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.
In addition, the different Zacks Rank grades are applied proportionately to all stocks for which brokerage analysts provide current-year earnings estimates. In other words, this tool always maintains a balance among its five ranks.
Another key difference between the ABR and Zacks Rank is freshness. The ABR is not necessarily up-to-date when you look at it. But, since brokerage analysts keep revising their earnings estimates to account for a company's changing business trends, and their actions get reflected in the Zacks Rank quickly enough, it is always timely in indicating future price movements.
Should You Invest in GOOG?Looking at the earnings estimate revisions for Alphabet, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has increased 0.1% over the past month to $14.3.
Analysts' growing optimism over the company's earnings prospects, as indicated by strong agreement among them in revising EPS estimates higher, could be a legitimate reason for the stock to soar in the near term.
The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, has resulted in a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) for Alphabet. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>
Therefore, the Buy-equivalent ABR for Alphabet may serve as a useful guide for investors.
Key Takeaways Alphabet's Dow Jones inclusion strengthens the index's AI and technology exposure. The move is more symbolic for Alphabet, already dominant in major benchmark indexes. DIA could gain if Alphabet and other AI leaders continue their upward momentum. Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) shares climbed 4.8% on Monday after the company officially entered the Dow Jones Industrial Average, earning one of Wall Street's most recognizable blue-chip distinctions.
Who Benefits More: Dow Jones or Alphabet?The inclusion is largely symbolic for Alphabet rather than a major catalyst for new demand. Alphabet is already a key component of both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq-100, where the bulk of passive investment assets are concentrated, as quoted on CNBC.
However, the addition marks a major milestone for the Dow Jones index, shifting its focus away from traditional telecommunications toward artificial intelligence and other key tech areas.
Note that a recent tech entrant to the Dow Jones — NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) — has struggled to deliver significant gains, with NVDA up only 3.2% this year. NVDA officially joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Nov. 8, 2024. But Alphabet stock has gained 11.4% so far this year and has surged 98% over the past year (as of June 26, 2026).
Investors Question Returns on AI SpendingDespite Monday's advance, Alphabet remains on pace for its weakest monthly performance since February 2025, as quoted on the same CNBC article. The stock has declined in six of the past seven weeks, a stark contrast to May.
Growing concerns over the effectiveness of Alphabet's massive AI investments continue to weigh on sentiment. Competition from lower-cost Chinese models is intensifying, putting downward pressure on pricing.
China’s DeepSeek has indicated that the fourth version of its open-source model will be released within weeks. Competition from rivals like Anthropic and OpenAI is an additional headwind.
Compute Constraints Create New PressuresAlphabet reportedly lacks sufficient compute capacity to satisfy enterprise demand, including requirements from clients such as Meta. To address the shortfall, the company has turned to infrastructure partners, the same CNBC article noted.
Dow Jones Likely to Benefit Since the Dow Jones is a price-weighted index rather than a market capitalization-weighted one, a stock's influence is determined by its share price rather than its overall size. Alphabet was added to replace Verizon — which had a much lower, less influential stock price.
At its debut (with Alphabet's share price at around $350 at the time of writing), the move translated to approximately 4% of the index's total movement. Note that the Information Technology sector accounted for about 16% of the Dow Jones at the time of writing.
Any significant positive move in AI stock prices can benefit the Dow Jones more significantly following Alphabet’s entry into the index. The State Street SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA - Free Report) should reflect the potential Alphabet-led benefit in the coming days. However, concerns about an AI bubble are a risk.
HomeIndustriesInternet/Online ServicesTech StocksTech StocksInvestors are overlooking the potential of Alphabet’s custom-chip business as the company plans to expand its data-center capacity going into 2028, according to Morgan StanleyJune 30, 2026, 11:27 a.m. ET
Alphabet and other “Magnificent Seven” names have fallen out of favor in recent weeks as investors pivot toward memory companies on the receiving end of the hyperscalers’ heavy artificial-intelligence spending.
That creates an opportunity for investors to take advantage of recent weakness in shares of Alphabet GOOGL GOOG as the company ramps up its custom-chip business, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak.
The Trade Desk (TTD) shares fell 4% in premarket trading Tuesday after Arete Research downgraded the digital advertising technology company to Sell from Neutral
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Dow Jones Futures: Stock Market Rallies On U.S.-Iran News; Alphabet, Rocket Lab, SpaceX, Tesla Are Big Winners Artificial intelligence is making its way into investors' portfolios one way or another, whether they're buying AI stocks or abstaining altogether. The latest signal of inevitability was Tuesday's announcement of Google's "strategic partnership" with FactSet, which will see the financial data company deepen its ties with Gemini and Google Cloud. FactSet (FDS) has offered AI features since at least March…
Britain's competition regulator on Tuesday proposed measures that would allow app developers to direct users to alternative payment options outside Apple and Google app stores.
The move is aimed at reducing fees for developers and promoting greater competition in the digital marketplace.
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said its proposals would remove existing barriers that prevent developers from guiding users to off-platform payment methods.
According to the regulator, Apple currently prohibits developers from directing users to external payment options.
Google allows the practice only under limited conditions.
The CMA said removing these restrictions would give developers greater flexibility in how they process payments and could increase competition within the app ecosystem.
The regulator also outlined its expectations if Apple or Google decides to charge developers for enabling links to alternative payment platforms.
According to the CMA, any such fees should be reasonable and significantly lower than the commissions currently charged through their respective app stores.
The regulator added that these charges should ultimately benefit consumers or encourage further innovation within the app economy.
The proposal is intended to ensure that developers are not discouraged from offering alternative payment options because of high costs.
In addition to payment-related changes, the CMA is considering a proposal that would require Apple to provide broader access to its near-field communication (NFC) technology.
If implemented, the measure would allow developers to integrate contactless payment functionality directly into their own iOS applications.
The proposal could reduce developers' reliance on Apple's existing payment system by enabling them to offer their own contactless payment services.
In an emailed statement to Reuters, Google said it has already implemented many of the changes proposed by the regulator.
The company said revised Google Play Store policies introduced earlier this month now allow developers to direct users to complete purchases outside the platform, although certain conditions continue to apply.
Google also said it has updated its app store fee structure as part of those policy changes.
Earlier this year, Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) secured commitments from Apple and Google to make their mobile app stores fairer and more transparent for developers as part of the UK's strengthened oversight of dominant digital platforms.
Under the agreement, Apple and Google pledged to ensure app review processes are fair, objective, and transparent, while giving developers clearer guidance on approval decisions and improved channels to raise concerns.
The CMA said the measures are intended to reduce uncertainty for developers and promote competition in a market where Apple's iOS and Google's Android operating systems dominate app distribution and mobile browsing.
Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) has been one of the most searched-for stocks on Zacks.com lately. So, you might want to look at some of the facts that could shape the stock's performance in the near term.
Shares of this internet search leader have returned -6% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's -2.9% change. The Zacks Internet - Services industry, to which Alphabet belongs, has lost 6.5% over this period. Now the key question is: Where could the stock be headed in the near term?
Although media reports or rumors about a significant change in a company's business prospects usually cause its stock to trend and lead to an immediate price change, there are always certain fundamental factors that ultimately drive the buy-and-hold decision.
Earnings Estimate RevisionsHere at Zacks, we prioritize appraising the change in the projection of a company's future earnings over anything else. That's because we believe the present value of its future stream of earnings is what determines the fair value for its stock.
We essentially look at how sell-side analysts covering the stock are revising their earnings estimates to reflect the impact of the latest business trends. And if earnings estimates go up for a company, the fair value for its stock goes up. A higher fair value than the current market price drives investors' interest in buying the stock, leading to its price moving higher. This is why empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.
For the current quarter, Alphabet is expected to post earnings of $2.86 per share, indicating a change of +23.8% from the year-ago quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed +0.2% over the last 30 days.
For the current fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $14.3 points to a change of +32.3% from the prior year. Over the last 30 days, this estimate has changed +0.1%.
For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $14.75 indicates a change of +3.1% from what Alphabet is expected to report a year ago. Over the past month, the estimate has changed +0.2%.
Having a strong externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool, the Zacks Rank, offers a more conclusive picture of a stock's price direction in the near term, since it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. Due to the size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, Alphabet is rated Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
The chart below shows the evolution of the company's forward 12-month consensus EPS estimate:
12 Month EPS
Projected Revenue GrowthEven though a company's earnings growth is arguably the best indicator of its financial health, nothing much happens if it cannot raise its revenues. It's almost impossible for a company to grow its earnings without growing its revenue for long periods. Therefore, knowing a company's potential revenue growth is crucial.
For Alphabet, the consensus sales estimate for the current quarter of $101 billion indicates a year-over-year change of +23.6%. For the current and next fiscal years, $422.05 billion and $510.84 billion estimates indicate +23.1% and +21% changes, respectively.
Last Reported Results and Surprise HistoryAlphabet reported revenues of $94.67 billion in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +23.8%. EPS of $5.11 for the same period compares with $2.81 a year ago.
Compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $92.22 billion, the reported revenues represent a surprise of +2.65%. The EPS surprise was +93.56%.
The company beat consensus EPS estimates in each of the trailing four quarters. The company topped consensus revenue estimates each time over this period.
ValuationNo investment decision can be efficient without considering a stock's valuation. Whether a stock's current price rightly reflects the intrinsic value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects is an essential determinant of its future price performance.
Comparing the current value of a company's valuation multiples, such as its price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and price-to-cash flow (P/CF), to its own historical values helps ascertain whether its stock is fairly valued, overvalued, or undervalued, whereas comparing the company relative to its peers on these parameters gives a good sense of how reasonable its stock price is.
The Zacks Value Style Score (part of the Zacks Style Scores system), which pays close attention to both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics to grade stocks from A to F (an A is better than a B; a B is better than a C; and so on), is pretty helpful in identifying whether a stock is overvalued, rightly valued, or temporarily undervalued.
Alphabet is graded D on this front, indicating that it is trading at a premium to its peers. Click here to see the values of some of the valuation metrics that have driven this grade.
ConclusionThe facts discussed here and much other information on Zacks.com might help determine whether or not it's worthwhile paying attention to the market buzz about Alphabet. However, its Zacks Rank #3 does suggest that it may perform in line with the broader market in the near term.
Alphabet Inc. (GOOG - Free Report) is one of the stocks most watched by Zacks.com visitors lately. So, it might be a good idea to review some of the factors that might affect the near-term performance of the stock.
Shares of this company have returned -5.7% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's -2.9% change. The Zacks Internet - Services industry, to which Alphabet belongs, has lost 6.5% over this period. Now the key question is: Where could the stock be headed in the near term?
While media releases or rumors about a substantial change in a company's business prospects usually make its stock 'trending' and lead to an immediate price change, there are always some fundamental facts that eventually dominate the buy-and-hold decision-making.
Revisions to Earnings EstimatesRather than focusing on anything else, we at Zacks prioritize evaluating the change in a company's earnings projection. This is because we believe the fair value for its stock is determined by the present value of its future stream of earnings.
Our analysis is essentially based on how sell-side analysts covering the stock are revising their earnings estimates to take the latest business trends into account. When earnings estimates for a company go up, the fair value for its stock goes up as well. And when a stock's fair value is higher than its current market price, investors tend to buy the stock, resulting in its price moving upward. Because of this, empirical studies indicate a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and short-term stock price movements.
Alphabet is expected to post earnings of $2.86 per share for the current quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +23.8%. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed +0.2%.
The consensus earnings estimate of $14.3 for the current fiscal year indicates a year-over-year change of +32.3%. This estimate has changed +0.1% over the last 30 days.
For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $14.75 indicates a change of +3.1% from what Alphabet is expected to report a year ago. Over the past month, the estimate has changed +0.2%.
Having a strong externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool, the Zacks Rank, offers a more conclusive picture of a stock's price direction in the near term, since it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. Due to the size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, Alphabet is rated Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
The chart below shows the evolution of the company's forward 12-month consensus EPS estimate:
12 Month EPS
Projected Revenue GrowthEven though a company's earnings growth is arguably the best indicator of its financial health, nothing much happens if it cannot raise its revenues. It's almost impossible for a company to grow its earnings without growing its revenue for long periods. Therefore, knowing a company's potential revenue growth is crucial.
In the case of Alphabet, the consensus sales estimate of $101 billion for the current quarter points to a year-over-year change of +23.6%. The $422.05 billion and $510.84 billion estimates for the current and next fiscal years indicate changes of +23.1% and +21%, respectively.
Last Reported Results and Surprise HistoryAlphabet reported revenues of $94.67 billion in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +23.8%. EPS of $5.11 for the same period compares with $2.81 a year ago.
Compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $92.22 billion, the reported revenues represent a surprise of +2.65%. The EPS surprise was +93.56%.
The company beat consensus EPS estimates in each of the trailing four quarters. The company topped consensus revenue estimates each time over this period.
ValuationNo investment decision can be efficient without considering a stock's valuation. Whether a stock's current price rightly reflects the intrinsic value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects is an essential determinant of its future price performance.
While comparing the current values of a company's valuation multiples, such as price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and price-to-cash flow (P/CF), with its own historical values helps determine whether its stock is fairly valued, overvalued, or undervalued, comparing the company relative to its peers on these parameters gives a good sense of the reasonability of the stock's price.
As part of the Zacks Style Scores system, the Zacks Value Style Score (which evaluates both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics) organizes stocks into five groups ranging from A to F (A is better than B; B is better than C; and so on), making it helpful in identifying whether a stock is overvalued, rightly valued, or temporarily undervalued.
Alphabet is graded D on this front, indicating that it is trading at a premium to its peers. Click here to see the values of some of the valuation metrics that have driven this grade.
ConclusionThe facts discussed here and much other information on Zacks.com might help determine whether or not it's worthwhile paying attention to the market buzz about Alphabet. However, its Zacks Rank #2 does suggest that it may outperform the broader market in the near term.
British regulators want Apple and Google to let developers steer users to payment methods beyond the company’s app stores.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued a proposal Tuesday (June 30) that would lift the restrictions imposed by the companies that prevent app developers from directing users to alternative methods of payment.
“We think it is important to give both app developers and users more choice about how they communicate and how they transact,” Will Hayter, executive director for digital markets at the CMA, said in the watchdog’s announcement.
“This is not only because choice is inherently valuable but also because we see this as the best way to introduce some competitive pressure in a vital part of the mobile ecosystem that is otherwise sorely lacking such pressure.”
The CMA says it would expect any steering fees to be lower than current app store charges, with savings returned to British consumers or invested into developers’ businesses.
The release added that the CMA had heard concerns from businesses that Apple’s “high fees and strict terms” had barred access to near field communication (NFC) functionality. Now the regulator said it is “designing a potential requirement” that would permit access for developers.
Unblocking the restriction would allow British FinTechs and developers to support contactless transactions, such as card-based payments via digital wallets, from within their iOS apps.
“Doing so would help unlock innovation and competition by supporting future payment methods such as account-to-account, digital currency and stablecoin, as well as other non-financial uses, including digital ID and car keys,” the release added.
A report on the CMA proposal by the Financial Times includes a statement from Apple arguing that the policy would “undermine” the App Store’s consumer protections, “opening the door to scams, bait-and-switch tactics and the circumvention of parental controls.” Google told the news outlet it had already reduced its fees.
The CMA’s proposal comes one day after a report that Apple had intensified its legal battle with India’s competition regulator over the company’s app store policies. Apple has consistently denied breaking Indian antitrust laws.
The company’s app store policies have also faced pushback from developers in the European Union, and were the subject of a lawsuit in China last year. Apple is also facing antitrust litigation in the U.S. related to the app store.
Apple released findings earlier this month showing that the app store facilitated more than $1.4 trillion in developer sales/billings during 2025, and that those developers paid no commission to Apple for 90% of transactions.
“Developers are the heartbeat of the App Store, and this year’s incredible milestone is a testament to their boundless creativity,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a news release at the time.
Since hitting a fresh all-time high in May, Alphabet (GOOGL +4.79%) (GOOG +4.94%) shares have traded 15% lower (as of June 25). However, they have still more than doubled in the past 12 months.
At this point, investors probably don't need much convincing to buy this "Magnificent Seven" stock. It's a dominant force in the internet economy. And it's in a great position to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.
While there are numerous data points that can help investors gauge the company's performance, here's the most important metric to follow right now.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Investors' heads are in the clouds Because of Google Cloud, Alphabet is considered a hyperscaler. The segment builds data centers and delivers computing, storage, and networking solutions to enterprise clients. Its success has been notable in recent years. The cloud platform is becoming a bigger contributor to the company's overall financial success.
During the first quarter, Google Cloud's revenue soared 63% year over year to $20 billion, marking a notable acceleration compared to the 48% increase in Q4 2025 and 28% rise in the first quarter of 2025. Q1 operating income jumped 203%.
But the most important number investors should keep tabs on is Google Cloud's backlog, which almost doubled quarter over quarter to $462 billion. That's almost six times greater than the $80 billion in annualized revenue for the entire segment. It's obvious that the AI tools and infrastructure that Google Cloud is able to offer have incredible demand from enterprise customers.
"We expect to recognize just over 50% of the backlog as revenue over the next 24 months," CFO Anat Ashkenazi said on the Q1 2026 earnings call.
Investors should look at the details. Data from August 2023 revealed that 70% of generative AI unicorns (valuations of at least $1 billion) were customers, whose business models are probably unproven. However, Google Cloud's roster also includes established non-tech leaders like Home Depot, Wells Fargo, and Unilever, raising the quality of the customer base.
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What is the market thinking about? Google Cloud's first-quarter revenue and operating income represented 18.2% and 16.6%, respectively, of Alphabet's total. These figures are small today, but they have climbed dramatically. In my view, this segment is what the market is most focused on these days. Consequently, Google Cloud's performance likely has a huge impact on Alphabet's stock valuation.
This is precisely why it's critical to pay attention to how the segment's backlog changes in the future. If it continues to grow, it's a clear signal that Alphabet's enormous capital expenditures, set to total $185 billion (at the midpoint) this year and expected to increase meaningfully in 2027, are justified.
If the backlog shrinks or growth starts to moderate, the market will get jittery. And this could quickly hit the stock price. Investors will begin to wonder if all the AI-related spending will produce an adequate return.
Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is up 4.4% at $352.11 this afternoon, bouncing off its Friday pullback to the 120-day moving average. The shares broke below recent support at the $340 floor, but are now in recovery mode, after the stock began trading in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) index for the first time today. The tech behemoth replaced Verizon Communications (VZ), which was last seen 6.6% lower. GOOGL is sporting a healthy 12.6% gain for 2026.
Call options have remained red-hot on Alphabet stock. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), Alphabet stock's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 2.89 ranks in the 80th annual percentile.
The options pits are pricing in relatively low volatility expectations, too, per GOOGL's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 32%, which sits in the 33rd percentile of its annual range. Even further, the stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) of 91 out of 100 indicates it has consistently exceeded those expectations during the past year.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL | GOOGL Price Prediction) is sitting on a Google Cloud backlog that nearly doubled quarter-on-quarter to $462 billion, and Sundar Pichai went on the most recent earnings call and said, in plain English, “We are compute constrained in the near term.” When the supplier is rationing for everyone, the interesting question is what the rationing tells you about the next two years of AI economics.
What the Financial Times reported The FT’s June 28, 2026 story said Google limited Meta’s (NASDAQ:META) access to Gemini models because it could not supply the full computing capacity Meta wanted to buy. Google told Meta around March that it couldn’t meet the requested capacity, which disrupted and delayed some of Meta’s internal AI projects and pushed Meta to economize on tokens.
A capacity shortfall is a very different fact pattern from a deliberate competitive cutoff, though this does lean into territory where AI companies are forced to make some choices. Competition is obviously going to be a factor when companies choose who to sell compute to.
Compute is the binding constraint “We are seeing strong demand and we are working hard to bring more capacity online,” Pichai has told investors, framing the supply problem as structural rather than transient. “Our Cloud revenue would have been higher if we were able to meet the demand,” he said. Google Cloud reported $20.03 billion in Q1 revenue, up 63% year over year, with operating margin expanding to 32.9% from 17.8% in the year-ago quarter. To chase the backlog, Alphabet raised 2026 capex guidance to a range of $180 billion to $190 billion, with 2027 capex expected to significantly increase.
The hyperscalers collectively have earmarked more than $725 billion in 2026 AI capex. Demand still outruns it. Q1 capex alone hit $35.67 billion, more than doubling year over year, which compressed free cash flow to $10.12 billion, down 46.6%. The trajectory matters: full-year 2025 capex landed at $91.45B, and the 2026 guide nearly doubles that again, a signal management is willing to absorb near-term free cash flow pain to chase the backlog.
The vertical integration subtext Owning the models, the TPUs, and the data centers means Google has a coherent allocation framework. “The compute needed for model development is a foundation for everything we do,” he said, with Search, YouTube, and Cloud customers slotted in around it under a “robust ROIC framework.” In a shortage, that integration is an advantage. Internal workloads and paying Cloud customers will reasonably sit ahead of a competitor buying capacity on the side.
That is structural, and the reporting establishes no intent beyond it. It also explains why Meta, which runs its own Llama family but still wanted Gemini for specific workloads, found itself behind Google’s first-party demand in the queue. The same logic applies to every external buyer competing with the host’s own roadmap.
What this signals from here Markets are reading the moment with unease. GOOGL is down 7% over the past month, though GOOG stock is rebounding swiftly as of this writing. The stock is on a 97% one-year run. GOOG stock trades around $350.
Gemini is now processing more than 16 billion tokens per minute via direct API use, up 60% quarter over quarter, and Gemini Enterprise paid monthly active users grew 40% sequentially. This is the demand signal that is forcing the rationing in the first place.
The throttle headline will fade. The constraint behind it will not. If you want one number to watch, it is the backlog. As long as it keeps growing faster than capacity comes online, “we couldn’t supply what they wanted to buy” is going to be a recurring sentence across the industry.
Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares climbed about 5% on Monday after the company officially joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ, XETRA:BAC) in a change that reflects the index's increasing exposure to large-cap technology and artificial intelligence companies.
The change took effect before the opening bell, with Alphabet becoming the latest technology heavyweight in the 30-stock benchmark alongside Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Nvidia.
Verizon, meanwhile, fell about 6% after being removed from the Dow following a 22-year presence in the blue-chip index.
The reshuffle marks another shift in the composition of the Dow, which is periodically adjusted to better reflect changes in the US economy and stock market. Alphabet's addition increases the benchmark's representation of technology and AI-related companies, while Verizon's removal reduces its exposure to the telecommunications sector.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is maintained by S&P Dow Jones Indices, which periodically updates its constituents to ensure the index continues to represent leading US companies across major industries.
Key Takeaways The first retreat to the 50-day moving average on QQQ is a buy.July has been higher for 11 consecutive years.Market breadth is improving despite Mag 7 weakness. First Pullback to 50-day Moving AverageOn Wall Street, even the strongest uptrends and bull markets eventually succumb to gravity and must pullback. Rather than chasing highs like most retail investors do, “smart”, big-money institutional investors often act as liquidity providers during market pullbacks and buy the dip. Rather than arbitrarily buying pullbacks, these institutional investors use moving averages to smooth out price. The 50-day simple moving average is the most optimal moving average to gauge the intermediate-term trend.
However, not all pullbacks to the 50-day moving average are created equally. The first pullback to the 50-day moving average after a correction or bear market is typically the most high-probability buy zone. For instance, the first pullback to the 50-day moving average following the COVID-19 and tariff corrections served as a phenomenal buy zone. Currently, the Nasdaq 100 Index ((QQQ - Free Report) ) is retreating to the 50-day moving average for the first time since emerging from the Iran War correction, offering investors a high-probability buy zone.
Image Source: TradingView
July is Seasonally StrongThe end of June and the beginning of July is one of the strongest seasonal periods for stocks. According to Jeffrey Hirsch (@AlmanacTrader), the Nasdaq’s 12-day Midyear Rally spans the last 3 days of June through the first 9 days of July and has gained 2.5% since 1985 on average and is up 78% of the time.
Meanwhile, July has been unusually strong recently. In fact, the S&P 500 Index has been higher in July for eleven consecutive years!
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Market Participation is BroadeningFor years, one of the key arguments among bearish Wall Street analysts has been that the “Magnificent 7” stocks have artificially propped up the major market indices due to their massive market caps. Last week, Apple ((AAPL - Free Report) ) dragged down the index after the company announced price hikes for many of its products due to memory shortages. Meanwhile, Alphabet ((GOOGL - Free Report) ) shares fell on news that it lost some of its top AI talent to privately held Anthropic.
Nevertheless, the market is exhibiting bullish breadth beneath the surface. Ryan Detrick (@RyanDetrick) points out that although the S&P 500 was down 2% last week thanks to the Mag 7 weakness, “more stocks are above the 20-day, 50-day, and 200-day moving averages than at the start of the week.” Detrick added, “In fact, 65% of the components are above their 200-day moving average, which is the most since early March.”
Image Source: Stockcharts.com
Bottom Line
A perfect bullish storm of seasonality, a high-probability technical pullback, and market breadth improvement is brewing for investors in July.
Alphabet GOOG shares rose 4.1% in trading on Monday as the Google parent began its first trading session as a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing Verizon Communications in the 30-stock benchmark.
The index change, announced last week, marks a milestone for Alphabet.
However, because the Dow is a price-weighted index rather than one weighted by market capitalization, analysts do not expect the stock to receive the same boost from passive investment flows that typically accompanies inclusion in the S&P 500.
The stock also benefited from a broader rebound in technology shares after last week's sharp selloff.
The Roundhill Magnificent Seven exchange-traded fund, which had fallen 13% in June through Friday and was on track for its worst month since its launch in April 2023, traded higher alongside several of its largest constituents.
Meta Platforms, Amazon and Tesla each rose more than 2%, while Nvidia and Microsoft gained more than 1%. Apple lagged the group with a modest 0.1% gain.
Investor sentiment was also influenced by reports that Google has limited Meta's access to its Gemini artificial intelligence models because demand exceeded available computing capacity.
According to the Financial Times, Google informed Meta around March that it could not provide all the Gemini capacity the social media company wanted to purchase.
The restrictions remain in place and have delayed some of Meta's internal AI projects while prompting the company to encourage employees to use AI tokens more efficiently.
Several other Google customers have also been affected by the capacity limits, although to a lesser extent.
Meta has faced greater disruption because of its exceptionally high demand for Google's AI models.
The restrictions highlight growing infrastructure bottlenecks across the artificial intelligence industry, where surging demand for advanced models has outpaced available computing resources despite massive investment in chips, data centres and power.
Google has moved to expand its capacity, including signing a $920 million-per-month agreement with SpaceX earlier this month to lease additional computing resources.
During Alphabet's first-quarter earnings call in April, Chief Executive Sundar Pichai acknowledged the company's capacity limitations.
"Obviously, we are compute-constrained in the near term," Pichai said. "And as an example, our Cloud revenue would have been higher if we were able to meet the demand."
Alphabet reported 63% revenue growth in its cloud computing business during the first quarter, its strongest growth since it began disclosing the figure in 2019.
The company also reported that its cloud revenue exceeded $20 billion for the first time, while its backlog of signed but undelivered cloud contracts nearly doubled quarter over quarter to more than $460 billion.
The stock has climbed 96% over the past 12 months and continues to trade about 11% above its 200-day simple moving average of $314.41, suggesting that the longer-term uptrend remains intact.
However, near-term momentum remains weaker. Alphabet is trading 2% below its 20-day simple moving average of $359.34 and 4.9% below its 50-day simple moving average of $369.57, indicating that the stock remains in a recovery phase rather than a sustained breakout.
Google Technicals The 20-day moving average also remains below the 50-day moving average, a bearish crossover that suggests recent rallies have faced stronger selling pressure than earlier in the longer-term advance.
Alphabet shares rose 4% Monday as the company officially joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing Verizon and adding a symbolic blue-chip designation.
The move comes despite continued pressure on the stock. Even with Monday's gain, Alphabet is still tracking for its worst month since February of last year, with six of the past seven weeks in the red. That marks a sharp reversal from May, when the company briefly eclipsed Nvidia after hours to become the world's most valuable company by market capitalization.
Alphabet's Dow inclusion is more symbolic than mechanical. The stock is already in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, where most benchmarked assets sit, limiting the amount of forced fund buying tied to the index change.
Recent Dow additions have also struggled after joining: Nvidia, Salesforce and Apple all traded lower 60 days after entering the index.
Read more CNBC tech newsOracle stock has worst week since 2001 dot-com bust as AI financing concerns escalateOpenAI hasn't held pre-IPO investor meetings or set timeline yet, sources sayOpenAI and Anthropic face new AI reality as users shift from 'tokenmaxxing' to efficiencyOpenAI limits new AI models to 'trusted partners' at request of U.S. governmentWeakness in Google shares comes as investors question the payoff from the company's AI spending, with lower-cost Chinese models improving, Google DeepMind researchers tied to Gemini and coding tools leaving for rivals like Anthropic and OpenAI, and compute access emerging as both a customer constraint and a recruiting issue.
Alphabet reportedly does not have enough compute capacity to meet demand from enterprise customers such as Meta, and is turning to infrastructure rivals, including SpaceX, to help close the gap. Alphabet did not respond to multiple requests for comment on reports about Meta's Gemini usage.
Compute access has also become a recruiting tactic. Noam Shazeer, the former Gemini co-lead who recently left Google for OpenAI, reportedly cited reduced access to compute as part of his frustration.
At the same time, Chinese models are pushing pricing lower just as Google tries to build an enterprise business around Gemini. DeepSeek has said the fourth version of its open-source model is coming in two weeks.
That strain is now showing up on Alphabet's balance sheet.
Its cash pile is shrinking, it skipped buybacks in the first quarter for the first time in nearly a decade, and it has raised more than $140 billion in debt and equity as the AI capex race gets more expensive.
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added Alphabet today, and the timing is the joke. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL | GOOGL Price Prediction) replaces Verizon (NYSE:VZ) in the 30-stock benchmark on the same day the stock is staggering toward its worst month since February of last year, with the quarter and the month ending tomorrow.
CNBC’s MacKenzie Sigalos framed the moment plainly on air this morning, noting that “Alphabet about to make its Dow debut. And Alphabet tracking for its worst month since February of last year, with just one trading day left in both June and the quarter.”
The numbers behind that line are uglier than the headline suggests. Shares are down 7% over the past month while the Dow itself, the index Alphabet is joining, is up 2% over the same stretch. So the new member is being dragged in while underperforming the room by roughly fifteen points.
Alphabet still sits on a 97% one-year gain, which is part of the reason it qualifies for inclusion in a price-weighted index in the first place. The June drawdown is fundamentally an expectations story.
The capex question and the talent leaving the building Sigalos zeroed in on what is actually rattling investors. “Investors are questioning the payoff from Alphabet’s capex spend as lower cost Chinese models improve and Google DeepMind researchers tied to Gemini and its coding tools leave for rivals including Anthropic and OpenAI,” she reported.
The capex figure she is referencing is not small. Management guided 2026 capital expenditures to $175 to $185 billion, roughly double the $91.45 billion Alphabet spent in 2025.
The Q1 numbers showed why the market is twitchy. Free cash flow came in at $10.12 billion, down 46.63% year over year, even as revenue grew 21.8% to $109.9 billion and Cloud accelerated to 63% growth with a backlog over $460 billion.
Strong business, compressed cash. The full Q1 2026 8-K filing lays out how aggressively the company is converting operating cash into infrastructure. Reddit picked up the same anxiety, with “Google loses two top AI researchers to OpenAI and Anthropic” drawing 470 upvotes on r/stocks last week.
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Product gaps in coding and cyber Sigalos went further into the competitive picture. “Google still lacks a coding tool with the enterprise traction of Codex or Cloud Code, and in cyber, it had an early lead with Project Big Sleep, but still no obvious product answer yet to Anthropic’s Mythos,” she said.
That gap matters because coding workloads are where Anthropic has been monetizing fastest, and enterprise security is where Cloud customers tend to anchor multi-year contracts. Sundar Pichai’s case to investors leans hard on infrastructure and model scale, with 16 billion tokens per minute processed via direct API in Q1, up 60% quarter over quarter. Scale is real. So is the product hole.
The balance sheet starts working harder And then the capital structure shift, which is the part most retail investors have not absorbed yet. “Alphabet’s cash pile is shrinking. It skipped buybacks in Q1 for the first time in nearly a decade, and it’s raising more than $140 billion in debt and equity as it now has to duke it out with other tech companies for compute contracts,” Sigalos told viewers.
This morning the company priced what news outlets called the largest equity capital raise in U.S. corporate history at $84.75 billion, including a $10 billion private placement with Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK-B). Berkshire writing the check is a real endorsement. The fact that Alphabet needs the check at all is the news.
What Dow inclusion actually means here Index addition does not change the underlying business, and recent Dow additions have a mixed record of rewarding new shareholders.
Alphabet trades at a trailing P/E of 26.7x with a consensus analyst target of $432.83 against a Friday close of $337.39. Sell-side optimism remains intact, with 43 Buy ratings against zero Sells.
Watch the second-half capex cadence and whether Cloud bookings keep pace with the spending curve. That is the number that decides whether today’s milestone ages well.
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The ongoing artificial intelligence boom has created multi-trillion dollar companies almost single-handedly. But the furore surrounding generative AI has been largely focused away from the automotive industry, despite the technology possessing the potential to fundamentally transform how we get from A to B in the years ahead.
Despite investor attentions turning towards powering the AI tools of tomorrow through major infrastructure projects, data centers, and stronger GPUs, forecasts suggest that autonomous vehicle (AV) stocks may be undervalued as a sector that’s ripe for growth.
The AV market captured the imagination of investors during the post-pandemic recovery on Wall Street. But now, as use cases continue to increase, we’re seeing a resurgence in interest for the next generation of transportation.
Using the ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (ARKQ) with around $2.41 billion in net assets, we can see growth of around 63% over the past year alone.
But which stocks are set to benefit the most from this acceleration in interest? And what firms are best-positioned to become market leaders in a sector that can bring so much value to the automotive landscape? Let’s take a deeper look at three essential stocks to track as autonomous vehicles continue to reenter the spotlight:
1. Uber (UBER)Although the stock may not be at the forefront of the minds of investors when it comes to autonomous vehicles, Uber (NYSE:UBER) is certainly worth tracking as the firm expands its movements into the industry.
Uber doesn’t actually develop its own AVs, but it does operate the largest global ride-hailing network and has already begun integrating third-party autonomous fleets like Waymo into its platform.
Recently, Uber announced an investment of up to $1.25 billion in Rivian through 2031 as part of a plan to purchase 10,000 fully autonomous R2 robotaxis, with the option to expand orders by up to 40,000 additional vehicles from 2030.
Uber already has plans to launch autonomous services in cities like San Francisco and Miami in 2028, with intentions to expand to 25 cities across the US, Canada, and Europe by 2031.
Despite there being plenty of promise for Uber looking ahead, its stock has been stuck in a prolonged downward trend– shedding more than 15% of its value over the first five months of 2026.
By far the largest company in the race for AV market dominance, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is certainly worth tracking if you’re looking for opportunities in the future growth of autonomous vehicles.
"The jewel in Tesla’s crown is its continuous development of its ‘Full Self-Driving (FSD) camera-based software, which is currently on course to play a leading role in the first iterations of autonomous driving technology," explained Vsevolod Smirnov, Head of Marketing at Just2Trade.
"It’s the sheer scale of Tesla’s autonomous driving potential that the stock can trade at a seismic trailing price to earnings (P/E) ratio of 358.7 while still representing value for money for investors."
Recently, JPMorgan upgraded Tesla to ‘neutral’ from ‘underweight’, directly citing that the EV giant’s valuation is increasingly driven by its focus on autonomous driving and robotics rather than its near-term earnings.
3. Alphabet (GOOGL)Crucially, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) counts Waymo as a key subsidiary, which is a global leader in fully driverless commercial operations, otherwise known as robotaxis.
As a global tech giant, Alphabet has the resources to support Waymo’s transition into a dominant force throughout the AV sector, and the firm’s massive scale and AI data infrastructure could support the deployment of industry-leading vehicles in the near future.
Waymo has already stolen a march on its industry rivals. In Texas, for instance, Waymo’s 577-strong fleet of robotaxis throughout the state eclipse the 42 deployed by Tesla.
Given that Alphabet is a multifaceted AI play which will be front and center in the development of infrastructure projects over the years ahead, we’re likely to see the firm play a pivotal role in the future of autonomous driving.
The Beginning of the BoomThe capabilities of autonomous vehicles are expanding at a rapid pace thanks to the ongoing AI boom. In the years ahead, we’ll see industry leaders emerge as ride hailing becomes unrecognizable compared to today.
Looking to the future, we’re set to see autonomous vehicle firms grow as fleets are deployed around the world, opening the door to new revenue streams at a potentially massive scale.
Although we may be many years away from realizing the potential of fully autonomous transportation, we’re already beginning to see which stocks are best-positioned to dominate this emerging market.
Disclosure: On the date of publication, Dmytro Spilka did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer. Dmytro Spilka does not intend to make a trade in any of the securities mentioned above in the next 72 hours.
Benzinga Disclaimer: This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga’s reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.
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Last year, Warren Buffett corrected one of his previous investing mistakes. He initiated a sizable position in Google parent Alphabet (GOOG 2.15%) (GOOGL 1.73%), several years after admitting that he regretted not buying the stock earlier.
After Buffett stepped down as Berkshire Hathaway's (BRKA +1.60%) (BRKB +2.08%) CEO at the end of 2025, his successor, Greg Abel, more than tripled the conglomerate's stake in Alphabet. The stock now ranks as Berkshire's fifth-largest holding.
But Google's stock has fallen by double digits over the past few weeks. Are Buffett and Abel worried that they made a mistake buying the stock? I don't think so. If you own shares of Alphabet, here's why you shouldn't be worried, either.
Image source: Getty Images.
Why the stock's decline isn't really scary Three factors explain Alphabet's decline since May. None of them should be scary to investors, in my opinion.
First, Alphabet's first-quarter update revealed another significant increase in planned capital expenditures. The company provided capex guidance of $180 billion to $190 billion for full-year 2026. Some investors have become jittery over the sky-high spending on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure by Alphabet and other tech giants.
Second (and related to the first factor), Alphabet announced in June that it was raising $80 billion through private placement equity offerings. The company said that these offerings are part of the plan "to fund investments in its world-class AI compute infrastructure to meet its unprecedented customer demand."
Third, two high-profile defections last week caused the stock to experience its worst day in more than a year. Noam Shazeer, Google's vice president of engineering and one of the leaders of the Gemini AI models, announced he was leaving to join OpenAI. Two days later, Google DeepMind vice president and engineering fellow John Jumper announced that he was leaving to join Anthropic. Jumper received a Nobel Prize with Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis for developing AlphaFold, an AI system that predicts protein structures.
Anat Askkenazi, CFO of Alphabet and Google, said in the Q1 update that the company continues to see "unprecedented internal and external demand for AI compute resources." Ashkenazi pointed out that investments in AI infrastructure are driving record revenue and backlog growth.
What about the departures of key AI leaders? It is somewhat concerning. However, this kind of musical chairs is commonplace in the industry. Alphabet still has a huge level of AI talent and the money to recruit more people.
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I have no doubt whatsoever that neither Buffett nor Abel is losing sleep over the factors behind Alphabet's recent sell-off. For one thing, Abel led the charge for Berkshire's additional $10 billion investment in Alphabet that was part of the private placement. If he had any qualms about Alphabet spending more on AI infrastructure, he would never have committed such a significant amount of Berkshire's capital.
It's important to remember Buffett's perspective on stock declines. At Berkshire Hathaway's 2010 annual shareholder meeting, he said, "If you have a temperament that when others are fearful you're going to get scared yourself, you know, you are not going to make a lot of money in securities over time, in all probability."
What's more, the legendary investor gave a decidedly contrarian opinion. He stated that some investors buy a stock and then "think if it goes up it's wonderful, and if it goes down it's bad." Buffett explained, "We think just the opposite. When it goes down, we love it, because we'll buy more. And if it goes up, it kills us to buy more."
An opportunity for long-term investors As usual, Buffett was right. A pullback in a wonderful company's share price presents an excellent buying opportunity for long-term investors. And Alphabet remains a wonderful company.
The record Google Cloud backlog provides excellent revenue visibility. Google Search continues to grow, with generative AI serving as a tailwind rather than the "Google killer" some predicted. Waymo is the leader in autonomous ride-hailing. Alphabet is even now part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.09%), reflecting how important it has become to the U.S. economy.
Don't be surprised if Berkshire's next 13-F filing reveals that the conglomerate took advantage of Alphabet's decline to load up on more shares. After all, that's the Warren Buffett way.
Talent moves between technology companies all the time. This past week was different in kind. The departures cluster around a single financial event that Google and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL, XETRA:APC) cannot replicate. Both OpenAI and Anthropic are approaching public listings. For a senior researcher, joining before the bell offers equity upside that no mature, already-public employer can match.
Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Google lost four names in days. Noam Shazeer, co-author of the Transformer paper that launched the current AI boom, left for OpenAI. John Jumper, a 2024 Nobel laureate who led AlphaFold, went to Anthropic. Two more Gemini contributors, Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel, followed him there. At Apple, Paul Meade, the vice president who built the Vision Pro and ran its smart glasses effort, starts at OpenAI's hardware unit next week.
These are not the cash raids of a year ago. Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META, XETRA:FB2A, SIX:FB) pulled talent then with pay alone. The new lever is ownership in a company about to be repriced by public markets. Cash cannot compete with a claim that reprices overnight.
The common thread is timing. Anthropic recently raised at a reported $965bn valuation and is weighing a listing as soon as the autumn. OpenAI is on a similar path. A tenured engineer at Alphabet already holds liquid stock. The same person at a pre-listing lab holds a claim that could multiply the day it floats. That gap is the entire story, and it runs on a clock.
The pull is half of it. Both Google and Apple supplied a push. At Google, insiders describe a culture grown slow and risk-averse, a charge Shazeer made years ago. Compute has become a flashpoint. Before his exit, capacity tied to one of his projects was reassigned to a London team. At Apple, the trigger was structural.
John Ternus became chief executive in September. Johny Srouji took over hardware and reordered the engineering ranks. Several vice presidents, Meade among them, dropped a level, and some felt demoted. At OpenAI, Meade joins former Apple colleagues Jony Ive, Tang Tan and Evans Hankey, whose hardware startup the company bought last year for $6.5bn.
Expect more. Three forces point the same way. The equity window stays open for months, so the incentive holds until these firms list. Defections feed on themselves. Each one lowers the cost of the next and signals internal doubt to those still inside. And Apple's reorganisation is fresh, its fallout still moving through the ranks.
The pattern reaches beyond Google and Apple. Some researchers are not switching labs but founding their own. David Silver, one of DeepMind's earliest hires, left to start a company. Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA, XETRA:NVD) absorbed the team behind Essential AI.
There are brakes. Many DeepMind researchers sit in the United Kingdom, where non-compete clauses bind and can delay a move for months. Google keeps the deepest research bench in the field, and chief Demis Hassabis says the lab wins its share of top talent. One 2025 study found DeepMind staff were almost 11 times more likely to leave for Anthropic than the reverse. That ratio now looks kind to Google.
Investors have noticed. Alphabet shares fell as much as 6% when the Shazeer and Jumper moves landed, before recovering. The market reads each exit as a verdict on whether Google can hold the people who built its lead.
The window shuts once OpenAI and Anthropic list. Until then, every researcher at a public AI employer faces the same sum. The maths favours leaving.
Plenty of stocks are down quite a bit just since the middle of the month. But it's Alphabet (GOOG 2.15%) (GOOGL 1.73%) that's arguably inflicted the most net damage. The S&P 500's (^GSPC 0.05%) second-biggest name is now sitting 15% below its mid-May peak, clearing the way for other similarly sized names to suffer similar stumbles. And many of them have.
Veteran investors know, however, that such setbacks are opportunities more often than they're omens.
With that as the backdrop, here's a closer look at three megacaps to buy on the dip led by Alphabet.
Image source: Getty Images.
Broadcom The proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) has been a boon for Broadcom's (AVGO 3.39%) business. Shares are up more than 556% since late 2022, in fact, on more than a doubling of the tech company's revenue and comparable growth of its bottom line.
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Of course, if demand for AI solutions weakens and, as a result, undermines demand for AI data center hardware, this growth will slow. If and when it does, AVGO's steep valuation suddenly becomes a liability.
The likelihood of a dramatic reduction in demand for data center connectivity equipment, however, is actually pretty low. Owners and operators seem pretty committed to the $725 billion they've earmarked to invest in infrastructure this year, no matter how much demand for the service it provides is actually in the cards. This ticker's 20% pullback from its early June peak -- mostly due to disappointing Q3 guidance -- may already fully price in whatever headwinds are blowing here.
Meta Platforms Shares of Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META +1.50%) were falling well before the recent marketwide stumble. It just accelerated the decline. This stock's now down 30% from last August's peak and still knocking on the door of new multi-month lows, mostly because investors have been shellshocked by Meta's 2026 capital expenditure budget, which is up to $145 billion.
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Largely lost in the noise is the fact that Meta is perhaps positioned as well as any company can be to do something constructive with its AI computing capacity. After all, it's got 3.56 billion consumers using at least one of its products at least once every day.
And the evidence of this argument is in the numbers. Although its active headcount actually fell in Q1, total ad impressions still grew 19% year over year, while the average price per impression improved 12%.
Finally, if you're looking for discounted megacaps to buy here, put the recent bearish ringleader on your watch list, if not in your portfolio. That's the aforementioned Alphabet.
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It's seemingly at risk of a broad AI slowdown. Just dig deeper. It's gaining market share in public cloud services (leveraging its existing reach within the institutional market), as is its AI chatbot Gemini. Also, keep in mind that Alphabet's breadwinning business is still Google itself, which accounted for more than 80% of Q1 revenue. This cash cow isn't apt to hit a wall even if the artificial intelligence industry does.
Analysts aren't deterred anyway. Despite the sizable setback caused by worried investors, the vast majority of the analyst community still rates this ticker a strong buy, with a consensus price target of $433.76, more than 25% above the stock's current price.
Google has put limits on Meta’s use of its Gemini AI models after the social media company sought more computing capacity than the rival tech group could provide, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
Google, owned by Alphabet, told Meta around March it could not meet the full Gemini capacity the company had sought to purchase, the newspaper said, adding that the shortfall disrupted and delayed some of Meta’s internal AI projects.
Google reportedly told Meta earlier this year that it could not meet the full Gemini capacity the company had sought to purchase. prima91 – stock.adobe.com
Google clients have also been affected by its capacity shortfall. REUTERS Several other Google clients have also been affected, though to a lesser extent, according to the report. Meta has been particularly impacted due to its exceptionally high demand for Google’s models, the FT said.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report, which cited people familiar with the matter. Google and Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside business hours.
Due to the restrictions, Meta has encouraged staff to be more efficient with AI tokens, the units that measure AI usage, the FT report said.
Meta has reportedly encouraged its staff to be more efficient with AI tokens. REUTERS Even as companies continue to spend billions on chips and data centers, they are still struggling to secure enough computing power to support the growing demand for AI services.
Revenue at Google Cloud grew to $20 billion in the first quarter ended March, but CEO Sundar Pichai said computing power constraints prevented even higher growth and contributed to the cloud unit’s backlog nearly doubling quarter on quarter.
Alphabet NASDAQ: GOOGL has been one of the most impressive mega-cap stories of 2026, climbing to a fresh all-time high of $408.61 as Google Cloud accelerated, its AI roadmap expanded, and investor sentiment around the company reached its strongest point in years. But over the past few weeks, the stock has cooled.
With GOOGL now trading about 15% below that high, the pullback has left investors asking a familiar question: Is this the start of something more concerning, or an opportunity in disguise?
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Alphabet’s Pullback Looks More Like Rotation Than TroubleAlphabet Today
$337.39 -6.32 (-1.84%)
As of 06/26/2026 04:00 PM Eastern
52-Week Range$171.73▼
$408.61Dividend Yield0.26%
P/E Ratio25.74
Price Target$413.13
The decline has been driven more by sentiment and sector rotation than by anything fundamental. A broad AI-related selloff has weighed on the megacap technology names in recent sessions, and Alphabet has not been spared. Adding to the noise, several high-profile AI researchers have reportedly departed Google for rivals, including Anthropic, potentially drawn by pre-IPO equity, raising concerns about talent retention at a critical moment in the AI race.
It is worth keeping this in perspective. None of these developments alters the core earnings power of the business. Alphabet generated $132.17 billion in net income over the trailing 12 months on net margins of nearly 38%, and Q1 2026 results blew past expectations with earnings per share of $5.11 against a $2.64 estimate. The pullback has compressed the forward price-to-earnings ratio to roughly 24, a level that looks reasonable for a company growing the way Alphabet is, and the stock is still up close to 10% on the year.
Bulls Need the $340 Breakout Zone to HoldFrom a technical perspective, while the stock has pulled back considerably from its 52-week high, it remains in a higher-timeframe uptrend. Importantly, the $340 area it is currently finding some support near will be vital in the future, as it is the level it broke out of at the end of May before surging to new all-time highs. If it takes that area out, the 200-day SMA comes into focus, near $320. But if it can bounce from this important zone near $340, a higher low could be marked within this uptrend, and the bulls may look to regain control of the stock.
Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) Price Chart for Sunday, June, 28, 2026
Alphabet’s Bull Case Still Runs Through Cloud and AIBeyond the chart, the fundamental story that drove Alphabet to its highs has not changed. Google Cloud crossed $20 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time in Q1, growing 63% year over year, with a backlog approaching half a trillion dollars. The company is investing aggressively in AI infrastructure, recently raising roughly $85 billion in a heavily oversubscribed debt offering anchored by Berkshire Hathaway, a clear signal that demand for its compute capacity is outstripping supply. And the Other Bets segment, home to Waymo and Wing, continues to scale in the background.
There is also a fresh catalyst on the horizon. Alphabet is set to join the Dow Jones Industrial Average before the open on June 29, 2026, replacing Verizon Communications NYSE: VZ. While index inclusion does not change the fundamentals, it does add a layer of structural buying from funds that track the Dow.
Analysts remain firmly constructive. The consensus rating across 54 analysts is Moderate Buy, with a price target of $413.13, implying nearly 20% upside from current levels. That is a meaningful gap between where the stock trades and where Wall Street believes it is worth.
Alphabet’s Dip: Reason to Worry or Time to Buy?The honest answer is that this pullback looks far more like healthy digestion than the start of a genuine breakdown. The decline has been driven by sector-wide AI rotation and a handful of sentiment-driven headlines, not by any deterioration in Alphabet's actual business.
Health Indicator for Alphabet TradeSmith's Health IndicatorA long-term volatility-based measure designed for securities held 12 months or longer.
Green: Strong and healthy uptrend with normal pullbacks.
Yellow: Significant pullback but still within expected volatility.
Red: Dropped beyond expected volatility; considered unhealthy.
Yellow Zone (6d)
1-Year History
Jun 25 Sep 25 Dec 25 Mar 26 Jun 26
For the last 6 days, GOOGL's financial health has been in the Yellow zone, according to TradeSmith.
One caution worth noting is that the stock's TradeSmith Health Indicator recently slipped into its Yellow Zone after a long stretch in the green, a reminder that the near-term trend has weakened and the $340 level genuinely matters.
For long-term investors, a quality compounder trading 15% off its high, at a reasonable forward multiple, with a major catalyst days away and nearly 20% of implied upside to consensus, is the kind of setup that tends to reward patience. The key, as always, will be whether that $340 zone holds. If it does, this pullback may well prove to be one of the better entry points GOOGL has offered in months.
Should You Invest $1,000 in Alphabet Right Now?Before you consider Alphabet, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Alphabet wasn't on the list.
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Although artificial intelligence (AI) investing steals most of the spotlight, there's another upcoming technology that will drive another investing rush: quantum computing. Quantum computing has the potential to provide several amazing breakthroughs, and the companies that dominate this sector will see major growth and huge returns for investors.
This isn't some fly-by-night technology; major tech companies and start-ups alike are trying to bring the best product to market and establish themselves as the go-to quantum computing provider, similar to how Nvidia (NVDA 1.42%) did with its graphics processing units (GPUs) in the AI build-out.
Two names that often come up in this area are Alphabet (GOOG 2.19%) (GOOGL 1.73%) and IonQ (IONQ 2.47%). This is a David-and-Goliath matchup, as Alphabet has significant resources, while IonQ is starting from scratch. Still, IonQ has a great product that's turning a lot of heads, but which is the better bet? Let's take a look.
Image source: Getty Images.
IonQ and Alphabet are taking different approaches to quantum computing There isn't one established way to do quantum computing, which is why there are so many competitors in the space. The most popular type of quantum computing is known as superconducting, which involves cooling a chamber to near absolute zero, then utilizing a particle within that chamber to perform calculations. Alphabet employs this approach and is actively working on improving its scale and accuracy.
Those represent two of quantum computing's biggest problems, as quantum computers aren't nearly as accurate as traditional computing and don't yet have the scale needed for commercial solutions.
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As a result, IonQ is taking a different approach that helps it solve these problems. It uses something called a trapped ion technique, which utilizes a laser to cool a particle, then it traps the particle to a surface maze to perform quantum computing calculations. This is far more accurate than supercomputing, but it comes at a cost: speed. IonQ's processor speeds are far less than its superconducting counterparts, but if it's more accurate, then this balances out.
Right now, IonQ holds the world record for two-qubit gate fidelity, a common measure for quantum computing companies. It scored a 99.99% as of last October -- a mark that still hasn't been beaten. Google's score at the last report was 99.88% for engaging gates, but it did it at a much faster speed. That extra 0.01% is a big deal in quantum computing, so IonQ's lead appears to be real, but Alphabet will be coming after IonQ's score.
Still, I think this shows that IonQ could be a viable pick, but it does have an uphill battle.
Alphabet can self-fund its quantum business The biggest difference between these two is funding. IonQ has no core business to fund its operations; it must sign research contracts to do so. As of now, IonQ's quantum business isn't sustainable, and it celebrates single-system sales as signs of progress.
Alphabet clearly has a strong core business, with its Google family of products generating mountains of cash. It is using a large chunk of that cash to build out its AI computing footprint, but the company can easily redirect it to quantum computing if it sees a compelling opportunity. Quantum computing is a cash-intensive field, and this easily gives Alphabet a leg up on IonQ.
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So, which company is the best buy? I think they are both great picks, but they represent different risk levels. Alphabet will likely succeed in the quantum arena and produce a viable product, making it an easy bet. IonQ is more of a long-shot bet, but if it does work out, it will make investors a ton of money. If you're more inclined toward higher risk, buy IonQ. If you're more conservative or don't want to deal with a stock that could go to $0, then Alphabet is the better pick.
However, owning both is the smart move, as it gives exposure to multiple varieties of quantum computing.
