Alphabet Inc (GOOG)

(A Top Pick November 10/17 - Up 16%) Still like it. A foundation investment in the technology area. All their metrics are good. Capital spending at $17 billion. They are leading in the autonomous driving. We are all looking and searching. Sounds elementary but it is a great source. Great hold.

He has liked this name for a while as they control so much information over so many devices and for different usages. He thinks the driverless car will happen. The company is generating 18% compound earnings growth on an enormous capital base. Yield 0%. (Analysts’ price target is $1384.89)

He sees it getting higher. It is going to be the next graduate to the $1 trillion dollar club. They have leading market share and global market share. They are very healthy. They have platforms like YouTube and Android that transcend generations. The world is enamored with capturing and analyzing all the data. Pick it up when it gets down to the 200 day moving average.

Has fallen asleep in the last months. Dominating the search market. 30 plus quarters of revenue growth and doesn’t see that changing. Valuation is attractive. Balance sheet is solid.

Still seeing upward trend in the 200-day moving average. Higher highs and higher lows. It’s not an expensive stock by any means. Alphabet’s going to be a beneficiary long-term of the shift to digital advertising. A core holding in the space.

In the space of digital advertising, she owns Alphabet rather than Facebook. Alphabet is not being hit with as much regulatory interest as Facebook at this point, and it provides a very popular service, the leading search engine, that integrates naturally with the advertising.

It has been a core holding for him for a long time. They are so dominant in the online advertizing space. It is a great long term hold. You are getting a great, dominant duopoly. Don’t worry about it quarter to quarter.

They have more cash on the books than many countries, he jokes. They are very innovative and focus a lot on this as part of their plan. Growing at 20% a year, it needs to find ways to invest the cash. Yield 0%. (Analysts’ price target is $1382.19)

If you have a 5 to 10 year timeframe then you could get it. This is a great company that is not exposed to tariffs. They are exposed to regulatory risks, however.

The go-to name in tech, in online advertising (and better than Facebook). They could monetize assets like Android and YouTube for billions. They have excess cash flow they're putting into areas like self-driving car, Waymo. (no dividend,
Analysts' price target: $1,393.13)

Has one of the best balance sheets in the world. Their business model is not slowing down. They have so much going on. Looks real good long term.

AMAZON or GOOGLE? Neither. As a value investor, he can't justify the high valuations of the FANG stocks. Value will become more important in the coming years. Momentum has had its day. These stocks can be vulnerable.

Valuations have been dropping to a more reasonable level even though growth is very brisk. Revenues grew 26% last year. It is becoming a mature company. Targeted advertising is still nascent, a boon for advertisers, and the transition from traditional advertising models to digit is far from completed. (Analysts’ price target is $1364.89)

This is the stock they have picked in the large cap tech stock sector. They continue to report very strong numbers. Cloud based business is performing very well. Would wait for a pull back to buy.

Google vs. Alibaba: He owns both. Both have leadership in the West and China, respectively. Under 25% of Google's revenue stream comes from the search engine, then they re-invest it. The search engine is like a piggybank and takes up a huge proportion of overall online advertising revenue. Similarly, Alibaba is dominant in China. They have long runways (as noted in how Google reinvests revenue from searches). As for Trump's tariffs, these are nickels and dimes against the big scheme of themes--unless the tariff war escalates.