Alphabet IncGOOGTOP PICKFeb 24, 2015Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jul 31, 2026. Market Open.
That was an eye-opener. The Mag 7 has peaked, and it could be a multi-year peak due to the negative free cash flow. GOOG is one of the winners in AI. Once the PE declines or AI spending slows, the stock could react better. The street would be very disappointed if only the core businesses of the Mag 7 were generating free cash flow growth and AI was not. It's tough to look through AI spend and invest the Mag 7 which remain great companies, but now face the biggest risk in years.
He trimmed a little early this year, but likes it. Their relationship with the customer is strong across its platform. Secondly, growth is remarkable. Also, the valuation is reasonable. Their AI model is not the best, but it's competitive. Can you keep your eyeballs on a Google product? Yes. Gemini is integrated in their search, so that removes the threat to their search.
Fears that AI would eat its lunch. Harder for Anthropic to monetize a new tool than for GOOG to take AI and apply it to a business model that it already monetizes. Muscle memory of the populace gravitates to GOOG to find information. Probably thrives in the new AI world, until something more disruptive comes along.
AI monetization is happening, and AI Mode has been a game changer. Stronger cloud growth (revenue grew 63% YOY last quarter, tremendous), broader monetization across platforms. Search and advertising remain strong, lots of cashflow. Also a great ecosystem.
Good growth, but relatively decent valuation. Yield is 0.25%.
One of the best business plans in the world. Advertising is all about a push business. If you want to advertise, you have to spend lots of money, and hopefully people will see it. On the other hand, if people want to look you up, all they have to do is Google you. This is the greatest advertising business model in the world. They make about 95% margin selling keywords. They are using the cash flow to make bets in other areas, which have huge markets such as networking, cable, Google glass, YouTube, etc. They are really under-reporting their earnings because they are investing so much in CapX and R&D. Their earnings would be a lot higher if they weren’t doing that. There is potential for them to start a dividend as well as share buyback.