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

[winston]

not vested

Alphabet Is Poised to Surge 1,294% - and These Real Estate Deals Prove It

By Michael A. Robinson

In Sunnyvale, Alphabet has spent a whopping $820 million on local tracts.

The firm just struck a deal with San Jose, Silicon Valley's biggest city, for the purchase of 16 tracts of prime land near the convention center and pro hockey arena.

With a current workforce of 72,000, Alphabet is focused on long-term growth and will have offices spread out between San Francisco to the north and San Jose to the south. That makes Alphabet one of Silicon Valley's largest landlords.

Google X labs have begun making artificial human skin, which could become a lifesaver for burn victims.

Its Verily division is working with Novartis AG (NYSE ADR: NVS) on "smart" contact lenses that check a patient's glucose level.

It's way out in front in the battle to put fully autonomous cars on the road. To date, Alphabet's Waymo division has logged more than 3 million miles on public roads, more than any other firm - by far.

The firm also has a $1 billion stake in commercial rocket leader SpaceX. The reason: SpaceX will be able to surround the globe in satellites and help Alphabet provide web access to the nearly 4 billion around the world who now lack it.

Its search-based ad business, for example, is already worth $20 billion a year, and still managed to grow an impressive 18% in the most recent quarter.

Source: Strategic Tech Investor

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not vested

Now’s a Great Time to Buy This Stock (If You’re a Long-Term Investor)

by Laura Hoy

With both YouTube and mobile search nearing their saturation point, it’s unclear how Alphabet plans to continue growing its ad business.

Advertising revenue was up 18% and paid clicks rose a whopping 52%, however, the troubling metric was the cost per click, which declined 23% in the second quarter.

The cost-per-click revenue decrease is nothing to sneeze at, but it’s also something to expect now that more people are viewing content on their mobile rather than a laptop.

Ads simply aren’t clicked as often and that means businesses aren’t willing to shell out as much on online ads.

Alphabet’s cloud business continued to pick up in the second quarter, a space that is expected to continue growing exponentially throughout the next decade.

The firm has also been working to grow Waymo and DeepMind, its driverless car and artificial intelligence arms.

Source: Investor Place

http://dailytradealert.com/2017/08/04/n ... -investor/

[winston]

Alphabet Inc (GOOGL) Stock Is a Rare Opportunity Right Now

A correction in a quality name like GOOGL stock doesn't come around very often. Take advantage.

By Nicolas Chahine

Source: Investor Place

http://investorplace.com/2017/08/alphab ... ZJGxVGg-M8

[winston]

not vested

Should You Buy Alphabet Inc (GOOGL) Stock? 3 Pros, 3 Cons

GOOGL stock has been hobbled ever since Q2 earnings. Will short-term weakness devolve into long-term decay?

By Ian Bezek

Cons of GOOGL Stock
1. Alphabet Wants to Buy Snap?
2. Licensing Fee to Apple
3. Technicals Fading

Pros of GOOGL Stock
1. Earnings Actually Weren’t Bad
2. Controversies Likely Short-Lived
3. Strong Balance Sheet

Source: Investor Place

http://investorplace.com/2017/08/should ... ZO4slGg-M8

[winston]

If You Own Alphabet Inc (GOOGL) Stock, This Should Nag You

Apple and Alphabet seem to be in a healthy partnership, but stranger things have happened

By James Brumley

Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi reckons that Alphabet is going to pay Apple about $3 billion this year for pre-setting Google as the search engine on iOS devices.

Based on court documents that confirmed Alphabet forked over $1 billion for that privilege in 2014, and then extrapolating the growth of the iPhone in the meantime, Sacconaghi concludes this year’s tally is on the order of $3 billion.

The fee is booked as licensing revenue, which is part of Apple’s fast-growing “Services” arm that also includes app and subscription-based revenue.

The fee will also grow every year, assuming Apple continues to sell more devices — it’s billed on a per-user basis.

It’s a not-so-touted secret that should spook owners of GOOGL stock: Alphabet needs Apple a lot more than Apple needs Alphabet.

Apple could replace Alphabet’s $3 billion much easier than Alphabet could replace the 1 billion-plus devices running iOS, most of which have (or still have) Google is the default search engine.

Source: Investor Place

http://investorplace.com/2017/08/if-you ... ZzZBiig-M8

[winston]

Buy This Dip In Alphabet Inc (GOOGL) Stock

The selloff in GOOGL stock is an opportunity

By Luke Lango

Despite operating margin compression, operating income still rose about 15% year-over-year due to robust revenue growth.

Google Cloud is scaling nicely. Last quarter, Alphabet closed three times as many large cloud deals (those greater than $500,000) than they did last year.

On the smartphone side, research firm Gartner estimates that Android controlled 88% of the smartphone shipment market in the second quarter of 2017, up from 86% in the second quarter of 2016.

GOOGL stock trades at 23.8 times fiscal 2018 estimates

Source: Investor Place

http://investorplace.com/2017/09/alphab ... atNmMig-M8

[winston]

Best Weakened Tech Stocks to Buy: Alphabet Inc (GOOG)

GOOG stock has dropped to the $927 area from around $998 in July 24.

The recently announced deal between Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) and Google, under which the retail giant will sell its products on the Google Express website, could move the needle as far as Alphabet’s financial results are concerned.

Walmart fans could start visiting and using Google Express in droves, especially since GOOG also announced that it would cancel Google Express’ $95 per year or $10 per month membership fee.

Moreover, Google Express has received billions of dollars of free publicity from the announcement of the deal, and Walmart may very well pay for some ads that will tout the website.

Furthermore, as has been well-documented, the deal also allows consumers to use their voices to order Walmart products for the first time.

Since voice ordering for Walmart will only be available on the company’s Google Assistant, many Walmart customers could consider buying the device, significantly boosting its adoption.

Given all of these positive catalysts, Alphabet could, within six months or so, finally start getting some significant e-commerce revenue, providing a boost to GOOG stock.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported earlier this year that the company’s self-driving car initiative is offering free rides to Phoenix residents, bringing the company “close to becoming a real service”.

By the end of this year, investors may start baking some revenue and profit from the self-driving program into GOOG stock.

Source: Investor Place

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New Xiaomi phone swaps own interface for Google’s in push to boost global sales

The Mi A1 smartphone will be the first not to use the Chinese company’s own operating system, and will go on sale in 40 markets worldwide, but not in mainland China

Source: SCMP

http://www.scmp.com/tech/social-gadgets ... ost-global

[winston]

Best Tech Stocks: Alphabet (GOOGL)

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) remains the undisputed king of tech stocks.

In the last three months, 30 analysts have published buy ratings on GOOGL vs just three hold ratings.

Overall the average analyst price target of $1,098.94 stands at a 16% upside from the current share price, although note that the price targets go as high as $1,220 (from Mizuho Securities, 28% upside).

Analyst Youssef Squali of SunTrust believes Alphabet netted around $63 billion in Search ad revenues in 2016.

Now, with around 2 billion monthly active users between Android, Maps, Chrome, YouTube, Google Play and Gmail, Squali says Google can: “Serve the most relevant ads at any given time on any property, in any geography […]

Given the highly targeted nature of Search, where it fits in the marketing funnel and track-ability of its ROI, we believe it’ll remain a pillar of marketers’ ad budgets for years to come.”

Even better, non-search ads like Maps and Waze have huge potential which GOOGL has only started to monetize. The five-star analyst initiated coverage 20 days ago with a $1,100 price target.

Source: Investor Place

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not vested

Alphabet (GOOG) Products Fall Flat

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares are stalling out near overhead resistance just shy of the $1,000-a-share level, bonking on levels first reached in June.

Not exactly the result management was looking for after a product launch blitz that included the new Pixel phone, an AI-enabled camera and new smart speakers and headphones.

All of it felt pretty derivative, to be honest, and is unlikely to encourage Apple users to change ecosystems.

The company will next report results on Oct. 26 after the close. Analysts are looking for earnings of $8.33 per share on revenues of $27.1 billion.

When the company last reported on July 24, earnings of $5.01 per share beat estimates by 58 cents on a 21% rise in revenues.

Source: Investor Place