Mountain View, California-based Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL), Google's parent company, is a tech powerhouse with a global footprint. Embracing artificial intelligence (AI) since 2016, it powers flagship products like Gmail, Google Maps, and Photos. With a staggering $2.1 trillion market cap, Alphabet's stellar growth rides on the success of its diverse product lineup, especially Google Search, which reigns supreme in the global search engine arena.
Shares of the mega-cap tech company have significantly outperformed the broader market over the past 52 weeks. GOOGL has gained 50.9% over this time frame, while the broader S&P 500 Index ($SPX) has rallied 26.2%. In 2024, shares of GOOGL are up 20.7%, compared to SPX's 9.5% gains on a YTD basis.
Zooming in further, GOOGL has also outpaced the S&P Internet ETF SPDR's (XWEB) 41.1% gains over the past 52 weeks.
GOOGL stock soared 10.2% on April 26 after stellar Q1 earnings, surpassing estimates with robust revenue growth and wider margins. Investors cheered its debut dividend, $70 billion stock buyback, and bullish AI innovation outlook with heavy investments in data centers.
For the current fiscal year, ending in December, analysts expect GOOGL to report EPS growth of 30.5% to $7.57 on a diluted basis. Moreover, Alphabet has an excellent earnings surprise history. It beat or matched the consensus estimate in each of the last four quarters.
In the last reported quarter, Alphabet's revenue and EPS exceeded Wall Street's estimates, driven by its cloud computing unit growth.
Among the 44 analysts covering the stock, the consensus rating is a “Strong Buy.” That’s based on 35 “Strong Buy” ratings, three “Moderate Buys,” and six “Holds.”
Susquehanna analyst Shyam Patil maintained a "Positive" rating on Alphabet and raised the price target from $170 to $225, which is also the Street-high price target. That implies an expected upside of 33.4% from current levels.
The mean price target of $192.50 is not quite as ambitious, but it still represents a premium of 14.1% to GOOGL's current levels. Notably, this average price target also represents a premium of about 10.2% to the stock’s 52-week high, set recently on April 26.
On the date of publication, Anushka Mukherjee did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
