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

[winston]

not vested

The Real ‘Next Big Thing’ Google Didn’t Mention

So, investing heavily in the development team at HTC and the Pixel allows Alphabet to come up with an enhanced version of its Android operating system, the most widely used in the world.

Doing so also allows Alphabet to market its own phone in a way that won’t anger its partners who rely on Android.

Source: Tech Stock Sensei

http://techstocksensei.com/2017/10/goog ... phone-htc/

[winston]

not vested

Alphabet's mobile ad revenue surges; shares jump

by Paresh Dave, Arjun Panchadar

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc on Thursday reported stronger-than-expected advertising sales and higher operating margins, boosting its shares as investors brushed off concerns about higher costs for acquiring mobile users.

The stock was up nearly 3 percent at $1,001.50 after the bell. They have gained 25 percent this year.

Third-quarter revenue for Alphabet, the parent company of Google, jumped 24 percent to $27.8 billion, above the average analysts’ estimate of $27.2 billion.

Profit of $6.7 billion, or $9.57 per share, was well ahead of Wall Street estimates.

Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai told analysts that efforts to attract “both large and small advertisers” around the world were paying off, especially in Asia, where sales rose 29 percent to $4.2 billion.

The third quarter was the 15th in a row in which Alphabet has shown double-digit, year-over-year consolidated sales increases. The pace is not slowing down, with the growth rate reaching its highest level in nearly five years.

Alphabet shares trade for almost 25.8 times expected earnings and Facebook at about 26.5 times, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Investors have been increasingly concerned about a sharp rise in costs for getting ads in front of users as Google pays Apple Inc and other companies to integrate Google search into mobile products and services.

The payments are included in traffic acquisition costs, or TAC, and they rose 54 percent in the quarter, accounting for 12 percent of ad sales.

Other analysts said revenue growth and cost controls made TAC increases less of an issue.

The third-quarter profit margin of 24 percent marked Alphabet’s highest since 27 percent in first quarter of 2013.

Google’s other revenue, which includes hardware such as the Pixel smartphones and Home speakers as well as the cloud computing business, also enjoyed solid growth. Sales from non-ad businesses rose 40 percent from a year ago to $3.4 billion in the quarter.

Among Google’s top priorities is expanding its salesforce to catch up with Amazon Web Services in providing corporate computing via large data centers, Pichai said. Alphabet does not break out cloud revenue, but Jefferies analysts estimate it at about 15 percent of Google’s other revenue.

Google also is trying to take on Apple in the high-end smartphone business with the Pixel. The company deepened its investment in September, agreeing to acquire 2,000 engineers from smartphone maker HTC Corp for $1.1 billion. Google’s Android operating system already powers most non-Apple smartphones.

But Google’s second-generation Pixel had a rough debut last week, with users complaining of a faulty screen and clicking noises during calls. The company responded on Thursday by doubling the warranty period for the smartphones to two years and promising to issue software fixes.

Losses from Alphabet’s Other Bets segment, which includes the Google Fiber broadband service and smart thermostat maker Nest, narrowed to $812 billion from $861 billion. The change reflected both an increase in sales across the companies and scaled back expansion plans for Fiber.

The company recorded in the second quarter a $2.7 billion European Commission fine for unfair treatment of shopping websites in search results. Antitrust experts have said another fine could come by the end of year, as the EC investigates its distribution deals with smartphone vendors and wireless carriers.

Source: Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-alpha ... r%20Update

[winston]

This Stock Still Has Plenty of Upside Ahead

by Michael A. Robinson

The Pixel 2 debuted two weeks ago along with several other pieces of hardware, including an updated laptop and an artificial intelligence-powered wearable camera.

Let’s say the Pixel captures just 5% of the global market for smartphones. That would give it sales of 75 million units a year. And at a conservative $650 average selling price, we’re talking $48 billion in new yearly sales.

For instance, the company has its Nest thermostat, the Chromebook laptop, the OnHub Wi-Fi router, and the Chromecast web streaming box.

It also has an AI-driven Google Home smart speaker. Google Assistant is the company’s version of Apple’s Siri – and it will integrate to the Home and Pixel.

Alphabet owns about 10% of SpaceX – and it advances the Silicon Valley giant’s bid to use satellites to provide wireless web access.

Google is doing so because more than two-thirds of the world’s seven billion people lack internet.

By backing SpaceX, Google hopes to be able to launch a new generation of small satellites that will beam web signals to remote regions of the world.

And when that effort comes to fruition, Google will have its Pixel ready.

Over the past three years, the company has grown sales by an average 18%. If all it did was keep that same rate, earnings per share will have doubled in exactly four years.

Source: Money Morning

http://dailytradealert.com/2017/10/26/s ... ide-ahead/

[winston]

Some Major Tailwinds Should Help Propel This Stock Higher

by Tom Taulli

1. Youtube: bought for $1.65b in 2006. Now worth at least $75b.
2. Google Cloud
3. AI (Artificial Intelligence)

Forward PE 24X

Source: Investor Place

http://dailytradealert.com/2017/12/07/m ... ck-higher/

[winston]

not vested

Alphabet

The search giant continues to expand and is even working on a driverless car now.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) is a global technology company focused around key areas, such as search, advertising, operating systems and platforms, enterprise and hardware
products.

It generates revenue primarily by delivering online advertising and by selling apps and contents on Google Play, as well as hardware products. The company provides its products and services in more than 100 languages and in 190 countries, regions and territories.

Alphabet offers performance and brand advertising services. It operates through Google and Other Bets segments. The Google segment includes principal internet products, such as Search, Ads, Commerce, Maps, YouTube, Apps, Cloud, Android, Chrome and Google Play, as well as technical infrastructure and newer efforts, such as virtual reality.

The search leader also pounded earnings estimates when it delivered upside to revenue, margins and GAAP earnings per share. Website ex-currency growth acceleration was a key positive.

While higher distribution traffic acquisition costs rate increase could temper enthusiasm, top analysts feel the profit growth trajectory intact.

The analysts see the company benefiting from AI through search, cloud, home assistants, autonomous vehicles, photos, news feed and numerous other applications.

SunTrust has a $1,180 price target. That compares with the consensus target of $1178.57. The shares closed on Friday at $1,049.38.

Source: 24-7 Wall Street

[winston]

not vested

THIS GIANT DOMINATES THE TECH INDUSTRY

The king of search engines isn't going away anytime soon...

Longtime readers know investing in "World Dominators" is one of the safest strategies for long-term success. These businesses sport consistent profit margins and healthy cash flows.

And their brand recognition often puts them at the top of their industries. Today, we can see this with the parent company of one of the world's most popular search engines...

Alphabet (GOOGL) is a $750 billion colossus. If you've sent an e-mail, stored files in the cloud, or even played music on your smartphone, you've probably used one or more of its products.

Alphabet dominates the tech sphere, with business segments in cloud computing, software, hardware, and more. And that gives it a lasting competitive advantage...

In its latest earnings report, Alphabet's third-quarter revenue increased 24% to $27.8 billion, while net income rose 33% to $6.7 billion.

As you can see below, this stock is climbing to record highs. The company's Class A shares are up around 32% in the past year. Watch for this tech leader to keep making strides as the market rises...

Source: Daily Wealth

[winston]

not vested

Alphabet shares fall as rising costs, margin pressure roil investors

(Reuters) - Shares of Google parent Alphabet Inc fell 4 percent premarket on Friday, as investors were concerned about the company's rising costs and pressure on margins that are weighing on a profitable ad business.

Most analysts believe higher investments by Alphabet to boost its cloud offerings and hardware sales could put pressure on the search engine's margin expansion in fiscal 2018.

"Operating margin and profit dollars fell short of our estimates despite the top line beat given higher contribution from lower margin streams of revenue (hardware)," Credit Suisse analysts wrote in a client note.

The company's total traffic acquisition costs, a measure of how much money the company spends to attract users to its search engine, rose 33 percent in the fourth quarter to $6.45 billion.

Canaccord Genuity analysts said Alphabet's sequential gross margin contraction was the largest in the company's history.

However, some analysts looked past the costs and focused on a strong core ad business as well as positive comments from Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai on its fast-growing cloud computing business.

Investments are paying off, Pichai said, noting that cloud computing is generating $1 billion in quarterly sales.

Google sells ad space on its search engine, its fast-growing YouTube video streaming service and a network of third-party websites and apps.

Led by such ads, Alphabet generated $110.9 billion in full-year revenue, up 23 percent from 2016 and topping $100 billion for the first time.

But threats from Facebook Inc and Amazon.com Inc loom.

"Amazon has grown its position as the first destination for consumer product searches. This has the potential to cannibalize Google's revenue from retail advertisers," wrote Scott Devitt, an analyst at Stifel who cut his rating to "hold" from "buy".

At least 11 brokerages raised their price targets on Alphabet, while two cut their price on the stock. Susquehanna was the most bullish, raising its price target to $1,475.Jefferies analysts said Alphabet is placing the right bets on some very big opportunities such as YouTube/TV, hardware, GCP, Waymo, which will help fuel sustained growth and meaningful share appreciation over time.

Source: Reuters

[winston]

not vested

Earnings

Alphabet reported a mixed quarter with revenue squeezing past the Zacks Consensus Estimate but earnings coming up short.

Strength in mobile and increasing traffic acquisition costs (TAC) related to this strength were notable points this quarter.

Mobile TAC is higher because the company needs to pay to remain as the default search engine (on Apple devices, for example).

Management didn’t say on the call whether Google has inked more longer-term deals to limit TAC expansion, but they did say that the net effect of market dynamics and the company’s own measures would lower the rate of increase in TAC post Q1. Alphabet continues to trade CPCs for volumes, which is also affecting the gross margin.

Holiday seasonality also drove up marketing costs in the last quarter, which impacted operating profits.

Source: Zack's

[winston]

not vested

Alphabet Inc’s Next Big Thing Could Be Shopping Actions

Google search is turning into an e-commerce marketplace, and that's good news for Google stock

By LUKE LANGO

The broad concern is that regulators will bring down the hammer on digital advertising platforms and greatly restrict their ability to use data for micro-targeting advertisements.

Google just teamed up with a host of retailers to launch Shopping Actions, a feature that allows consumers to buy products directly through Google search and Google assistant.

E-commerce sales in the U.S. grew 17% last quarter.

Amazon caters to a higher-income demographic, with most of its users coming from the $100,000 and up income demographic. Google doesn’t really cater to any specific income demographic. Everyone uses Google because it’s free.

GOOGL stock trades at just 26.5-times forward earnings.

Source: Investor Place

https://investorplace.com/2018/03/alpha ... at&cp=pdtk

[winston]

not vested

Stocks Hedge Funds Are Buying: Alphabet (GOOGL)

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL), the parent company of Google, is another hedge fund favorite.

In fact, more than 50 hedge funds feature Alphabet among their top 10 holdings. Like Apple and Amazon, Alphabet is one of the U.S. companies with a market value north of $700 billion.

The three stocks highlighted here thus far cement at least one notion: Hedge funds love tech. Data confirm as much.

“Net exposures remain higher than the beginning of the year at 51 percent. The technology sector is still 37 percent of that total.

Data shows that there has been some aggregate selling of technology stocks since the middle of March, but the magnitude has been relatively in line with other sectors,” Bloomberg reported, citing Morgan Stanley research.

Source: Investor Place