Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) 02 (Aug 17 - Dec 25)

[winston]

not vested

Google parent Alphabet reported revenue and earnings that fell short of analysts’ expectations, showing the company’s search advertising juggernaut was not immune to a slowdown in the digital ad market.

Alphabet said third-quarter sales, excluding payments to distribution partners, were US$57.27 billion. That compared with the average analyst projection for US$58.18 billion.

Net income was US$1.06 per share less than Wall Street’s estimates for US$1.25 per share.

As spiralling inflation crimps growth in digital advertising, Google and rivals such as Meta Platforms’s Facebook and Snap’s Snapchat are fighting for smaller budgets.

Google’s search business, which is more insulated from economic swings than social media ads, has begun to show signs of weakness.

“When Google stumbles, it’s a bad omen for digital advertising at large”.

Search and other related businesses generated third-quarter sales of US$39.54 billion, compared to analyst estimates of US$40.87 billion.

YouTube missed the mark by an even wider margin, reporting ad sales of US$7.07 billion, compared with analysts’ average estimate of US$7.47 billion.

YouTube released a short-form video platform called Shorts to counter the popularity of TikTok, but analysts say the company still has ground to make up.

Google’s closely watched cloud unit, which has yet to turn a profit, lost US$699 million, better than analysts’ projections for a loss of US$814.25 million. Although Google is a distant third in the cloud market, trailing Amazon.com and Microsoft, the unit is nonetheless viewed as one of the company’s best bets for growth as the core search business matures.

Source: Phillips

[winston]

vested

Alphabet (GOOGL)

Market cap of $1.24 trillion, Alphabet sits just below Microsoft.

Shares down by 34% in this year’s market rout.

Delivered its slowest growth rate since 2013. Revenue climbed by just 6% to $69.09 billion, coming in shy of the $70.7 billion anticipated by Wall Street.

Net income dropped from $18.94 billion in the same period a year ago to $13.9 billion, as the company delivered diluted EPS of $1.06 compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25.

Google Search revenue increased by just 4.2% to $39.5 billion, some distance below the 8% growth forecast, and representing the first instance of a decline.

YouTube advertising dropped by 2% to $7.1 billion. The analysts were looking for a 4.4% uptick.

Truist: “While top-line results for Search missed consensus estimates and growth decelerated from lapping tough Y/Y comps, and a weakening macro environment, Google's preeminent position as the engine of the global digital economy keeps it more resilient than other platforms, in our view.

We believe that Google's Search remains one of if not the most important customer acquisition and growth strategies for advertisers, who are continuing to advertise on Search despite a weakening global economy…"

"With mgt's commitment to reign in hiring and focus investments on the highest growth priorities as it responds to the current uncertain macro, we expect revenue growth to re-accelerate throughout 2023 and the drop in margins to normalize, creating a compelling case for the stock N/M terms," the analyst added.

Therefore, Squali sticks with a Buy rating although the price target is lowered from $136 to $130. Investors are looking at returns of 35% from current levels.

The results have done little to change Wall’s Street’s resoundingly positive stance on GOOGL; the stock claims a Strong Buy consensus rating, based on a unanimous 30 Buys.

Source: TipRanks

[winston]

vested

GOOGLE inc.-
Target Price* 124.00
Recommendation BUY

Alphabet Inc. - Challenged by pullback in advertising spend

3Q22 results miss on both revenue and earnings. 9M22 revenue/PATMI at 68%/58% of our FY22e forecasts. Revenue miss due to incremental pullback in advertising spend and FX headwinds.

Cloud momentum continuing with 38% YoY growth for 3Q22.

Net margin down 9% YoY to 20% due to increasing OPEX and FX headwinds. FX drag expected to worsen in 4Q22.

We cut our FY22e revenue/PATMI forecast by 6%/20% to account for a pullback in advertising spend, higher-than-expected operating expenses, increasing FX headwinds, and unrealized losses on equity investments.

We maintain a BUY recommendation with a lowered DCF target price of US$124.00 (prev. US$139.00), with a WACC of 7.3% and terminal growth of 3.5%.

Source: Phillips

https://www.poems.com.sg/stock-research/GOOGL/

[behappyalways]

Alphabet Plunges After Missing Across The Board, Drags Nasdaq Lower After Hours
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/alpha ... fter-hours

[winston]

Vested. Up 4.41%

Alphabet Inc. (GOOG)

Alphabet was first out of the gate on Tuesday, reporting record earnings for its third quarter but falling short of expectations for both sales and earnings.

Sales continue to grow – up 6.1% over last year – but the rate of growth has slowed for five-consecutive quarters. In this same quarter a year ago, sales grew 41%.

Search revenue grew just 4.3%, and advertising revenue on YouTube actually declined nearly 2% over last year. That’s the first time that has happened since 2020, when Alphabet started breaking out YouTube’s financial performance in its reports.

On the bottom line, Alphabet earned $1.06 per share, which was well below analysts’ expectations for $1.25 per share. That’s the third quarter in a row earnings declined over the previous year and the company missed expectations.

GOOG continues to rate a “Hold” in Portfolio Grader with its “C” grade.

Source: Investor Place

[winston]

vested

Is Google A Buy Or Sell As Focus Shifts To Operating Expenses, Margins?

by REINHARDT KRAUSE

In the third quarter, profit fell 24% to $1.06 per share.

Gross revenue rose 6% to $69.09 billion amid headwinds from currency exchange rates. In the year-earlier period, Google revenue rose 41%.

YouTube ad revenue fell nearly 2% to $7.07 billion amid increased competition from TikTok. GOOGL stock analysts had estimated YouTube ad revenue of $7.5 billion, up 3.5%.

Meanwhile, overall Google advertising revenue rose 2.5% to $54.48 billion, missing estimates of $56.58 billion.

Google said cloud-computing revenue rose 37% to $6.87 billion, topping estimates of $6.7 billion.

Source: IBD

https://www.investors.com/news/technolo ... src=A00220

[behappyalways]

Several employees also asked executives whether they had quotas for placing people in lower performance categories in order to reduce headcount in 2023. Even though executives said they don’t have quotas, it didn’t seem to convince employees.

Google tells employees more of them will be at risk for low performance ratings next year
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/22/google- ... -2023.html

[behappyalways]

"I Have Difficult News To Share": Google CEO Tells Employees 12,000 Jobs Will Be Cut
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/i-hav ... ill-be-cut

[winston]

not vested

Google Tumbles As Ad Sales Slide, Earnings Miss Street Forecasts

Google GOOGL shares moved lower after the ad-focused tech group posted softer-than-expected fourth quarter sales, amid an ongoing pullback in marketing spending from clients around that world, and said its recent round of job cuts would produce multi-billion hit to current quarter earnings.

Google said revenues from YouTube, its signature non-search platform, fell 7.7% to around $7.9 billion over the three months ending in December, while overall ad sales were down 3.6% to $59.04 billion.

Group revenues came in at just over $76 billion, around $620 million shy of the Street consensus forecast.

Google's bottom line came in at $1.05 per share over the three months ending in December, compared to last year's split-adjusted figure of $1.53 per share, a tally that also missed Street forecasts by around $1.20 per share.

Google, which unveiled plans last month to cut around 12,000 jobs from its global workforce, said the layoffs would likely cost between $1.9 billion and $2.3 billion in severance and related charges, most of which will be recognized over the current quarter.

Source: The Street

[winston]

not vested

Alphabet, Inc. (GOOG) – Announced Thursday, February 2

Alphabet, Inc. disappointed Wall Street on Thursday evening with its fourth-quarter earnings and sales.

The company reported earnings of $1.05 per share and sales of $76.05 billion. Analysts were calling for earnings of $1.18 per share and $76.53 billion.

Full-year 2022 earnings of $4.56 per share were down from $5.61 per share in full-year 2021.

Full-year 2022 revenue increased 10% to $282.8 billion, up from full-year 2021 revenue of $257.6 billion.

Digging a little deeper into the report… Alphabet noted a nearly 8% decrease in its YouTube advertising revenue. Google Cloud sales jumped 32% to $7.3 billion in the fourth quarter.

CEO Sundar Pichai stated, “There’s great momentum in Cloud, YouTube subscriptions, and our Pixel devices. We’re on an important journey to re-engineer our cost structure in a durable way and to build financially sustainable, vibrant, growing businesses across Alphabet.”

Source: Market 360