By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 18th, 2024
From a stock index perspective, Alphabet shares are among the best-performing equities with a gain of about 33% YTD.
Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) shares have strongly rebounded from 2022 lows YTD. As a well-diversified tech company that has invested billions of dollars in different economic sectors, its stock market is well-poised to revisit its ATH and beyond. However, it is the artificial intelligence (AI) venture through one of its subsidiaries Google LLC that has convinced its shareholders to remain bullish. During this year’s Google annual I/O Developers conference held on Wednesday, it was evident that Alphabet is keen on AI development.
According to the latest market data provided by TradingView and MarketWatch, GOOGL shares gained approximately 11 percent in the past five days to trade around $116.63 during Thursday’s after-hours session. The recent gains materialized following a 4.32 percent pump on Thursday. Notably, GOOGL shares have ranged between 83.34 – 122.43 in the past 52 weeks with an average volume of about $38.46 million.
From a stock index perspective, Alphabet shares are among the best-performing equities with a gain of about 33 percent YTD.
“We remain bullish and view I/O as a clearing event that will help erode the heavily debated ‘AI overhang’ … and narrow GOOGL’s current valuation gap vs. peers,” Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak wrote.
Alphabet Market Outlook
According to a study conducted by MarketWatch, 52 ratings gave GOOGL shares an average target price of 129.21 with an average recommendation of Buy.
For instance, a report on May 11 by JMP Securities issued a price target of $132.00 expecting GOOGL shares to rise within 12 months, which could mean a possible 13.24 percent upside from current levels. Other analysts from B of A Securities, and Citigroup have maintained their ratings Buy on Alphabet shares.
The American multinational technology conglomerate holding company is, however, expecting stiff competition from Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META), and OpenAI in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector.
Nevertheless, the company has continued to integrate its subsidiaries through AI and cloud computing. During the 2023 first quarter financial results, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, noted that the company’s cloud computing sector has attracted huge global momentum to assure future growth prospects.
“…With Search performing well and momentum in Cloud. We introduced important product updates anchored in deep computer science and AI. Our North Star is providing the most helpful answers for our users, and we see huge opportunities ahead, continuing our long track record of innovation,” Pichai noted.
The introduction of AI and cloud computing has helped Alphabet reduce expenses through workforce cuts.