Valued at a market cap of around $2 trillion, Mountain View, California-based Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) is a global technology company offering a wide range of products and services through its subsidiaries. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments, providing solutions in areas such as search, advertising, cloud computing, consumer devices, and healthcare. GOOG is expected to release its fiscal Q1 2025 earnings results on Thursday, Apr 24.
Ahead of this event, analysts expect Alphabet to report a profit of $2.04 per share, up 7.9% from $1.89 per share in the year-ago quarter. The company has surpassed Wall Street's bottom-line estimates in the last four quarters. In Q4 2024, GOOG beat the consensus EPS estimate by 1.4%.
For fiscal 2024, analysts expect the online advertising giant to report EPS of $8.87, up 10.3% from $8.04 in fiscal 2024. In addition, EPS is expected to grow 14.7% year-over-year to $10.17 in fiscal 2026.
Alphabet has risen marginally over the past 52 weeks, underperforming the S&P 500 Index's ($SPX) 2.8% gain and the Communication Services Select Sector SPDR ETF Fund's (XLC) 11.5% increase over the same period.
Alphabet’s stock fell 2.3% on Mar. 18 after the company announced a $32 billion all-cash acquisition of cloud security firm Wiz, its largest deal ever, which raised investor concerns about overpaying. Investors were also wary because Alphabet increased its offer by nearly 40% from last year’s bid, despite Wiz only generating $500 million in annual recurring revenue. Investors were also uneasy about the large spending amid heavy AI investment needs.
Overall, analysts' consensus view on Alphabet stock is bullish, with a "Strong Buy" rating. Out of 53 analysts covering the stock, 41 recommend a "Strong Buy," three suggest a "Moderate Buy," and nine propose a "Hold." As of writing, GOOG is trading below the average analyst price target of $214.70.
