GOOGL Hits 52-Week High Amid Market Volatility
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Aug 07 2024
0mins
Should l Buy GOOGL?
Source: Coinmarketcap
Shares of GOOGL.O surged to a 52-week high today, reflecting strong investor confidence amidst a turbulent week for AI-related stocks. The stock's upward momentum comes as market participants closely watch Nvidia's upcoming earnings report, which is anticipated to provide critical insights into the tech sector's future. This technical breakout signals a bullish sentiment, as investors remain optimistic about Alphabet's growth potential in the AI space, despite broader market fluctuations.
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Analyst Views on GOOGL
Wall Street analysts forecast GOOGL stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for GOOGL is 338.25 USD with a low forecast of 279.00 USD and a high forecast of 390.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
34 Analyst Rating
27 Buy
7 Hold
0 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 331.250
Low
279.00
Averages
338.25
High
390.00
Current: 331.250
Low
279.00
Averages
338.25
High
390.00
About GOOGL
Alphabet Inc. is a holding company. The Company's segments include Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets. The Google Services segment includes products and services such as ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Google Maps, Google Play, Search, and YouTube. The Google Cloud segment includes infrastructure and platform services, collaboration tools, and other services for enterprise customers. Its Other Bets segment is engaged in the sale of healthcare-related services and Internet services. Its Google Cloud provides enterprise-ready cloud services, including Google Cloud Platform and Google Workspace. Google Cloud Platform provides access to solutions such as artificial intelligence (AI) offerings, including its AI infrastructure, Vertex AI platform, and Gemini for Google Cloud; cybersecurity, and data and analytics. Google Workspace includes cloud-based communication and collaboration tools for enterprises, such as Calendar, Gmail, Docs, Drive, and Meet.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
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- Cloud Business Highlight: The cloud backlog surged 55% sequentially, more than doubling from Q4 2024, indicating strong demand in the cloud services sector, while management's confidence in AI-related spending continues to grow.
See More
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- Capital Expenditure Comparison: Google announced an increase in capital expenditures to $175 billion to $185 billion, exceeding the expected $115 billion to $120 billion, indicating a proactive approach in AI despite challenges from slowing ad revenues.
- Changing Competitive Landscape: With Alphabet's ongoing investments and successes in AI, YouTube's user base has grown to 750 million, and Waymo's self-driving business is outpacing Tesla, suggesting a strengthening competitive advantage that may attract more investor interest.
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See More
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Future Spending Projections: Alphabet, Broadcom's largest chip partner, expects to spend between $175 billion and $185 billion on capital expenditures in 2026, significantly higher than previous estimates, which could boost Broadcom's revenue.
Partnership with Meta: Broadcom is likely to benefit from its partnership with Meta, which is expected to increase its spending on AI-related projects, further supporting Broadcom's growth outlook.
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See More
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- Cloud Growth Potential: Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing division, achieved a remarkable 39% revenue growth in Q2 2025, while the overall growth rate was 17%, underscoring the central role of cloud computing in the company's strategy.
- Competitive Advantage Analysis: Although Microsoft does not separately disclose Azure's profits, its operating margins are estimated to be between 25% and 35%, which may be lower than Microsoft's overall operating margin of 47%, compared to competitors AWS and Google Cloud.
- Future Outlook: With the ongoing demand for cloud computing, Microsoft is positioned to achieve stronger market performance in the coming years through its Azure platform, despite current stock price pressures, as the potential of cloud computing remains a key to its strategic success.
See More
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- Azure Growth Momentum: Microsoft's Azure cloud computing division achieved a remarkable 39% revenue growth in Q2 2025, highlighting its critical role in the company's overall 17% growth, indicating that cloud computing will continue to drive Microsoft's future development.
- Market Competition Analysis: Although Microsoft does not disclose Azure's financials separately, its operating margins are likely between 25% and 35%, compared to competitors Amazon AWS and Google Cloud's margins of 35% and 24%, respectively, which may exert some pressure on overall profitability.
- Investment Opportunity: Microsoft's expansion in the cloud computing sector presents a significant market opportunity, especially as demand for AI surges, leading enterprise clients to prefer renting data centers rather than building them, thus fueling Azure's rapid growth.
- Stock Market Performance Challenges: Despite Microsoft's stock price dropping 11% at the start of 2026, Azure's strong growth could help it outperform the market in the future, particularly as the broader market has only risen by 1%, providing Microsoft with a chance to regain its market position.
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- Elevated Safety Standards: Waymo's VP Srikanth Thirumalai stated in an interview that the standards for autonomous driving should exceed human capabilities, emphasizing that safety is paramount, with future efforts focused on reducing sensor costs and improving software quality to ensure product safety.
- Sensor System Optimization: Currently, Waymo employs a comprehensive system with 29 cameras, 5 lidars, and 6 radars to enhance AI perception, planning to reduce the number of sensors in future robotaxi models while iterating and innovating to lower costs and improve software performance.
- Tesla's AI Perspective: Tesla's VP of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, emphasized at the ScaledML Conference that autonomous driving should rely on cameras rather than sensors, arguing that the challenge lies in AI capabilities rather than sensor technology, highlighting the importance of information extraction.
- Ongoing Industry Debate: Despite differing views on autonomous driving technology, both Waymo and Tesla acknowledge the challenges in achieving fully safe autonomous driving, indicating that the debate within the industry continues to evolve.
See More
