/Alphabet%20(Google)%20Image%20by%20Markus%20Mainka%20via%20Shutterstock.jpg)
Alphabet (GOOGL) recently received a significant regulatory boost after Judge Amit Mehta issued a ruling that, while affirming Google’s monopolistic control over general Search and related advertising, stopped short of ordering the structural breakup of critical assets like Chrome and Android.
Instead, the court barred exclusive contracts for Google Search, Chrome, Google Assistant, and the Gemini app and mandated that Google share portions of its search index and user-interaction data with qualified competitors, while permitting the continuation of lucrative placement payments. This outcome for Alphabet prompted analysts to raise price targets, with Evercore ISI lifting its forecast to a Street-high of $300 amid strengthened fundamentals across Search, artificial intelligence (AI), YouTube, Cloud, and reduced regulatory overhang.