Google parent Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL) is scheduled to announce its Q3 results on October 29. Ahead of the results, Scotiabank analyst Nat Schindler increased his price target for GOOG stock to $310 from $240 and reiterated a Buy rating. Schindler expects Alphabet to deliver the strongest Q3 results among Internet companies in his coverage, driven by solid growth in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and margin expansion.
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Meanwhile, Wall Street expects Alphabet to report an 8.6% year-over-year growth in its Q3 earnings per share (EPS) to $2.30. Revenue is estimated to rise 13% to $99.8 billion.
Scotiabank Analyst Is Bullish on Alphabet Stock
Schindler stated that Alphabet’s latest quarter showed a clear recovery in its “bread-and-butter” advertising business. He noted that some of the improvements were supported by easier comparisons as well as a “genuine” rise in advertiser spend. The 4-star analyst noted that YouTube’s turnaround has been significant.
While the push into Shorts initially posed a monetization challenge, the company revealed that ad monetization for Shorts is nearing the same level as traditional YouTube videos on a per-hour basis in some markets. This establishes that YouTube has found ways to effectively monetize the billions of views on Shorts via artificial intelligence (AI)-driven marketing.
Furthermore, Schindler is encouraged to see “Google’s core revving again,” with ad growth recovering to double digits and expected to remain strong as long as macro conditions are steady. He noted that third-party data appears to be tracking in line with consensus expectations for the third quarter. Also, the new Ironwood TPU (3nm) chip demonstrated solid improvements over TPU v5p, which the analyst believes will help narrow the efficiency gap with Nvidia’s (NVDA) chips. While expectations are “sky-high” for Google Cloud Platform, Schindler expects growth and margins to easily hit investor expectations.
Is GOOG Stock a Buy or Hold?
Currently, Wall Street has a Strong Buy consensus rating on Alphabet Class C stock based on 15 Buys and one Hold recommendation. The average GOOG stock price target of $252.69 indicates that the stock is fully priced at current levels. GOOG stock has risen more than 32% year-to-date.
