Alphabet IncGOOGTOP PICKNov 26, 2024Stock 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.
Trades at 20x PE (below where the S&P trades right now), about $70B in free cashflow this year. Core businesses continue to do well. YouTube is one of the fastest-growing parts of the business, ad revenue continues to do well.
(Analysts’ price target is $209.92)DOJ interest will take a long time to wind through the process. Might even be worth 50-60% more on a breakup. Waymo is the cash-cow-in-waiting. Yield is 0.5%.