Alphabet IncGOOGBUYNov 02, 2023Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jul 10, 2026. Market Open.
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%.
A year ago, consensus was that Search was going to die. Seems ridiculous now. Gemini is overtaking ChatGPT. Data centre business is growing faster than before. Still not that expensive. He hasn't sold any shares yet, but may take some off the table from the long-term holding and put toward one of the Mag 7 laggards.
Owns and likes both, but MSFT gets the nod if you forced him to choose, because of its AI potential.
A lot of the trend right now is in AI, and MSFT will be the winner. They already have the platform, just increase the price and that's good for margins. Strong user-installed base that AI can leapfrog off of.
GOOG is more of an advertising company, and ads are coming back. Net margins of 25%, good growth. GOOG will have more work to do on the AI front. Given the recent price drop, there are worse companies to buy.