Google changed the world by teaching us the art of search. After 2004’s IPO that made Larry Page and Sergey Brin billionaires, a string of shrewd business moves has upped share values more than 5,000 per cent. It all culminated in a major rebranding to Alphabet.
With Sundar Pichai at the helm, Alphabet stock finally bested the rest of the MANGA family – Meta (FB, formerly Facebook), Netflix (NFLX), and Amazon (AMZN). Apple (APPL) remained unmoved.
Google stock leapt more than 65 per cent in 2021, and while it’s started 2022 on slippery ground, falling lower than its 50-day moving average. But that’s down to NASDAQ and tech stocks pulling back.
Looking at the Numbers
Alphabet Class A’s price sold lowest at $1,694.00, and its highest was $3,019.33 in the last twelve months. The market cap for Alphabet’s market cap A is a princely $1.83 trillion – better than Amazon’s by nearly a quarter of a billion.
The median price target for the Alphabet Class A is $3,368.75, coming from 28 Wall Street analysts’ twelve-month price targets issued over the last three months. This average price target represents a 22.28 per cent increase from the current price of $2,754.95.
The lowest price forecast is $2,965.00, while the highest is $3,925.00.
Therefore, the analyst consensus is a “Strong Buy” recommendation. You can buy if the conditions are suitable for your portfolio.
Alphabet Class A Earnings Reports
Alphabet Class A’s upcoming earnings report is expected on February 2, 2022. in the last report from October 26, 2021, the company reported $27.99 in earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate by $4,256.
Analysts still consider Alphabet stock undervalued, and the company does not currently pay dividends.
Earnings per share estimates remain unavailable for the February earnings reports. There are 663,760,000 shares outstanding of Alphabet Class A stock. The EPS of the last earnings report was $27.99, though expectations were $23.734. The stock price rose 6.381 per cent after the report.
Fisher Asset Management holds 5 billion worth of Alphabet Class A shares.
Should You Buy Amazon Stock?
Google’s portfolio continues to grow, and Morgan Stanley predicts it’ll rise significantly in 2022. However, the stock will have a steeper slope to climb year-on-year as the coronavirus emergency fades.
Alphabet repurchased $12.8 billion worth of GOOGL stock in Q2 2021 versus $12.6 billion in Q3 2021. With Covid vaccinations expanding, and global economies recouping lost ground, there’s a heavy expectation that digital advertising will rebound.
There’s a lot of good business from Android and the Play store. The company expects more patronage after announcing a 50 per cent drop in Play store service fees from 30 per cent to 15 per cent. Revenues will drop there, but the move will keep developers and users on the platform.
Despite increasing regulation, Alphabet’s transparency has improved under CEO Mr Pichai.
Conclusion
Regardless of the price, Alphabet could still be an impressive investment. It isn’t doing much better than the entire S&P 500, yet, it sports more attractive growth prospects than the median company in the index.
There are expectations for the cloud business to boom, while other investments such as Waymo could prove to be a goldmine for shareholders over the next few years.
Search is still big business despite the unrelenting beams of regulator focus. Alphabet has every reason to remain upbeat about 2022. After all, it’s committed to products that people everywhere find to be indispensable.
Alphabet shares are an excellent look-in if you’re looking for a long-term investment.
Note: Please do not invest money or assets in the financial markets that you cannot afford to lose. This article should not be construed to be investment advice and is for information purposes only.