'Flawless report': what analysts are now advising to do with Alphabet shares

Wall Street analysts are mostly raising their price targets on shares of Google's parent company after a strong quarterly report released on the evening of October 29, CNBC writes. They note that despite the risks from AI competitors, the tech giant is feeling resilient and building profits. Alphabet's quarterly revenue topped $100 billion for the first time in history and profits beat expectations. The company also said it raised its full-year forecast for AI investments to $91-93 billion from $85 billion, and noted continued strong demand for cloud services.

- "With the stock up 43% since the second-quarter report, expectations were high. Nevertheless, the company reported flawlessly: consolidated revenue grew 16% (15% in constant currency), beating Wall Street's forecast by about 2.5%," Deutsche Bank analysts wrote. They maintained a buy recommendation on Alphabet's securities and a target price of $340, expecting the stock to rise 24%.

- "We see Alphabet overcoming a lot of [investor] concerns around the topic of AI over the past 12 months and see no reason to expect a slowdown or pullback," Goldman Sachs said in a note quoted by CNBC. - Management emphasized confidence in scaling consumer and enterprise AI use cases - from traditional search to AI Overviews, Gemini and AI Mode. We believe the company is successfully adapting to the multi-year evolution of its search product by building on its strengths: its huge user base, innovation leadership, infrastructure and price advantage over competitors." The bank raised its target price on Alphabet shares to $330 from $288, maintaining a "buy" recommendation.

- "The move to AI-powered search has long been considered a major risk for Google, but there are growing signs that it is an opportunity rather than a threat, and they will continue to change investor perceptions of the company. Google remains one of our two top ideas along with Amazon," JPMorgan analysts wrote. The bank raised its target price on the stock from $300 to $340, maintaining an "Above Market" rating.

- "Every key source of Google's revenue accelerated in the third quarter, driven by support from AI across the business and a favorable digital advertising environment. If the company can overcome the risks associated with AI competition in search by 2026, the stock's upside potential remains," Barclays analysts said. They raised the stock's target from $250 to $315, maintaining an "Outperform" rating.

- "Expect tactical outperformance from Google. The next key drivers for the sector are the release of Google's Gemini 3 model and the release of Meta's new version of Llama, which will be central events in the development of the generative AI market and could be catalysts for revising the valuations of companies in this segment," Morgan Stanley analysts wrote. The bank maintained its target price on Alphabet shares at $330 and an "Above Market" rating.

- "The results confirm that Google is in a strong position in AI due to its advanced LLM model, proprietary TPUs and large-scale user base. In addition, long-term directions such as Waymo and quantum computing create potential not reflected in the current valuation," Bank of America analysts said. The bank raised its target on the stock from $280 to $335, maintaining a "buy" recommendation.

- "Google exceeded expectations in all major areas - Search, YouTube and Cloud. The main revelation is the disclosed $155 billion Cloud backlog, of which 50-55% is likely to be realized within two years," UBS analysts wrote. - The company is aggressively expanding its advertising and cloud business through generative AI, becoming a leader in ROI in this area. We maintain a neutral rating as the risks of competition with ChatGPT and other GenAI projects remain, especially against the backdrop of the planned launch of ChatGPT's browser and its integration with trading platforms." At the same time, the investment bank raised its target price on the stock from $255 to $306.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor