Tag: GOOGL Stock

  • Heading into the Week: High-Flying U.S. Markets Show Little Mercy for Earnings Letdowns

    Heading into the Week: High-Flying U.S. Markets Show Little Mercy for Earnings Letdowns

    April 29 has come with a high-stakes scenario for investors as U.S. stocks show intolerance for corporate earnings letdowns, particularly with more tech behemoths due to report. The back of sterling performances from Microsoft and Alphabet boosted the S&P 500 recorded its best week since November, rebounding from the year’s first notable market dip. The index has seen a 7% upswing in 2024 and an impressive 24% since late October last year.

    Yet, not all tech tales are of triumphs, with Meta Platforms facing a stark 10% drop in its shares following a lackluster forecast, and Caterpillar’s shares tumbling by 7% due to a sales warning. As the “Magnificent Seven” — major companies that propelled last year’s market — prepare to release earnings, with Amazon on Tuesday and Apple on Thursday, the anticipation is tangible. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is set to unveil its monetary policy statement, adding another layer of investor intrigue.

    Despite a robust half-year market surge, the air is now thin with skepticism, as investors become less forgiving of any earnings missteps. The S&P 500’s valuation stands tall at 20 times forward earnings estimates, eclipsing the historical average and raising the price of disappointment. Tesla’s stock saw a resurgence earlier in the week, with a 12% spike on model news, despite a staggering year-to-date decline, illustrating a market ripe for positive surprises after a bruising year.

    The shadow of rising Treasury yields looms large, with the prospect of future profits being discounted more heavily against the rising allure of government debt. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield has reached heights unseen since November, fueled by persisting inflation concerns.

    In this earnings season, the majority of S&P 500 companies have bested earnings expectations, but the focus might swiftly shift if bond yields surge or inflation continues to defy expectations. The Federal Reserve’s meeting this week might not bring interest rate changes, but investors are all ears for the Fed’s take on the inflation narrative. The earlier optimism for rate cuts has dimmed, with futures markets paring down expectations significantly since the start of the year.

  • Beat Earnings Plus a Stock Split: Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) stock Advances Further After Hours

    On February 01, the Google parent company, Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) posted its results for Q4 and fiscal 2021 along with a stock split in form of a stock dividend. Consequently, the stock increased further in the after-hours to reach $3,005 per share.

    The anticipation of the earnings report had already caused investors to flock towards the stock during the regular session. Hence, the stock traded a heavy volume of 3.43 million (212% of average) to add 1.73% in the regular session. After closing the session at $2,752.88 with a gain of $46.81, the stock increased further after hours. Following the announcement, GOOGL increased by 9.16% or $252.12 at an after-hours volume of 1.15 million shares on Tuesday.

    GOOGL’s Financial Results

    During Q4 of 2021, the company generated revenues of $75.3B against $56.8B in the year-ago quarter. Thus, the revenue not only increased by 32% YOY but also beat the analyst’s expectations of $72.3B.

    Moreover, the fiscal 2021 revenues of the company were $257.6B against $182.5B in the previous year. This marks an increase of 41% YOY.

    Additionally, GOOGL reported a net income of $20.6B in Q4 2021, against $15.2B in the year-ago quarter. Resultantly, the diluted EPS was $30.69 and $22.30 in Q4 of 2021 and 2020, respectively. Therefore, the EPS beat analysts’ estimate of $27.68 for the fourth quarter of 2021.

    Furthermore, the diluted EPS for fiscal 2021 was $112.20 against $58.61 for the previous year.

    Stock Split

    Along with the results, the company also announced the approval of a 20-for-1 stock split by its board. The stock split will be in the form of a one-time special stock dividend on GOOGL’s Class A, B & C stock shares.

    After approval of the stock split from the company’s stockholders, the one-time dividend will be paid on July 15, 2022, after the close of business. For every share held by a stockholder, a dividend of 19 additional shares of the same class stock will be paid. Further, the record date for this special dividend in relation to the stock split is July 1, 2022.

    Google Cloud Next ‘21

    Recently, the company held Google Cloud Next ’21 from October 12 to October 14, 2021. During the event, Chief Executive Officer, Google Cloud, Thomas Kurian participated in an opening keynote on October 12.

    Before that, Mr. Kurian also participated in the Deutsche Bank 2021 Technology Conference on September 9, 2021.

  • Apple (AAPL) or Alphabet (GOOGL): Which is the Better Stock Pick?

    Apple (AAPL) or Alphabet (GOOGL): Which is the Better Stock Pick?

    Apple (AAPL) and Alphabet (GOOGL) are two renowned names all over the world in the tech industry. There is a great rivalry between these trillion-dollar tech giants as both are giving their best shot to innovate as well as to expand their network in the globe through their products and services.No doubt both companies have brought massive returns to their long-term investors and will continue the trend in the future.

    Generally, it becomes difficult to decide the best stock between the two when both tend to keep winning but a deep understanding of the company’s infrastructure, strategies, and developments helps investors to determine which stock is better to add to their portfolio. Let’s look at both stocks to determine which will be the best bet for you in the future.

    Apple (AAPL):

    Apple (AAPL) Inc. is an American multinational technology company that works on products and services related to computer hardware, computer software, consumer electronics, cloud computing, fintech, and artificial intelligence. The stock price has surged about 460% with an increase in revenue from $215.6 billion to 274.5 billion over the past five years. The net income grew to $57.4 billion from $47.5 billion in the same tenure.

    Despite the Corona Virus pandemic, the company’s revenue growth and gross margin from its products remained stable mainly due to its multiple innovative electronic products including Macs, iPhones, iPads Apple watches, Apple TVs, etc. Besides its products, Apple is growing its ecosystem day by day as 20% of revenue was generated from its online services and now it has more than 600 million paid subscribers from all over the world.

    The iPhone 12 series which is the first iPhone series to support the 5G technology could add more hype in the future as rough estimates from its suppliers suggest that it could ship 230 million iPhones in 2021. Moreover, Apple will repeat its innovation strategy by launching new versions of its other hardware products. The company is also working on an augmented reality headset which is expected to launch in the next year followed by a pair of AR glasses in 2023.

    Apple’s not done yet as the tech giant has also been working on the development of electric vehicles.Analysts suggest that Apple will launch its car between 2024 to 2026 and if it happens,it will be a game-changer for the tech giant, but some analysts think that Apple will have to face great competition in the automobile industry.

    Alphabet(GOOGL):

    Google is an American multinationalconglomerate company that provides internet-related services and products which include search engine, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, online advertising computer software, and hardware, etc. The investors enjoyed the massive return in the past and hoping to get more profits from the company in the future.

    There is no doubt that Google is leading over the internet as its search engine has a 90% market share which is about 89% ahead of the secondly ranked Bing. The company has generated 80% of its total sales with $147 billion in revenue in the past year through online advertising services. The company’s leadership is making serious efforts to innovate its services and products and to evolve Google into digital. Google has launched many professional certificate training programs to diversify its ecosystem.

    Google Cloud Platform is the strong competitor of Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure now it is ranked third among public cloud service providers. With the evolution of Big Data, the demand for the cloud is increasing day by the day so we can expect that Google will likely generate handsome profit through its cloud services.

    Another important thing to notice about Alphabet as it never pays dividend rather it returns money to its shareholders via a share buyback. Management believes that share buyback is the tax-efficient process to return cash to the shareholders and it is more beneficial for the shareholder to retain and use the earnings for future business growth.

    Conclusion:

    Both tech giants are evolving rapidly and have enough cash in their balance sheets. It is for sure that investors of both companies would be happy in the decade from now, but Apple is the favorite between these two due to its launching iPhone 12 series, AR headsets with AR glasses, and EV car that would prove to be the gamechanger for the stock. On the other hand, Alphabet is facing great competition in online advertising from Facebook.It has shown much growth in cloud services last year but still, it’s a small segment in Alphabet and requires significant effort to compete with AWS and Azure.

  • The Three Best Tech Stocks to Buy and Watch in 2021

    The Three Best Tech Stocks to Buy and Watch in 2021

    The Teck stocks are highly surrounded by the bulls.

    The tech market is a vast market and is evolving every single day. Each industry is somewhat a part of the broader tech market, now. Technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, Augmented Reality (AR), Internet of Things (IoT), and other software-based companies have turned into big tech firms.

    With all the focus turning online, the tech firms are the first to benefit from this historic transformation in the digital world. The tech stocks, in general, are growth stocks such as Amazon (AMZN), Apple (APPL), and Facebook (FB).

    In the longer-run, the tech stocks will be getting bigger and there are several other tech firms that have much upside potential. Let’s see the three best tech stocks to buy and watch in 2021.

    Alphabet (GOOGL)

    Alphabet (GOOGL) the parent company that operates the internet deity, Google, is one of the biggest tech’s in the market. The company has delivered robust returns in the past and can continue with the same growth rate over the next decade.

    Google search engine has a global market share upward of 91.9%, which is breathtaking for any company to hold such a big market share. The company has the leadership that has evolved Google into a digital. That leadership is a big positive for the company that would generate healthy profits for several years.

    Another important segment of Google is its Cloud segment which is enhancing and still a relatively small part of the entire company. Google Cloud was able to brag 53%+ and 46%+ revenues in 2019 and 2020, respectively. The Cloud industry is growing at a rapid pace and the demand is increasing every single year. So, with time, this segment would bring massive profits to the company.

    salesforce.com (CRM)

    Saleforce.com (CRM) is a cloud-based software company that is shaping itself to be a part of the future digital world. The company owns the world’s largest cloud-based CRM platform and controls over 20% of the market.

    The company’s revenue surged over 26% in the first nine months of the fiscal year 2021, which ended in January. Salesforce recorded double-digit percentage growth in its sales, service, and marketing, and commerce clouds. Moreover, in the longer run, the company has targeted to achieve over $50 billion in annual revenue by fiscal 2026. So, the company has big motives and is one of the safest bets in the tech market.

    Shopify (SHOP)

    Shopify (SHOP) is a multinational e-commerce firm based in Canada. The company runs one of the biggest e-commerce platforms. It’s a good time to buy Shopify on the dip, as the shares are trading downward around $1,391.25, as we write this.

    The company recently reported its fourth-quarter outcomes, recording revenue growth of 94% to $977.7 million. While the adjusted earnings per share soared by a whopping 267% year-over-year to $1.58 per share. The company surpassed analyst’s estimates on earnings of $1.28 per share and revenue of $910.2 million.

    Jefferies analyst Samad Samana after examining the quarterly report said that the Q4 results were largely in-line with high buy-side expectations. And, 2021 is also expected to continue with strong growth momentum.

    So, investors who are eyeing tech stocks, Alphabet (GOOGL), Salesforce.com (CRM), and Shopify (SHOP) are the stocks to buy and watch this year.

  • What Challenges Have Google And Facebook Been Facing And What Can Investors Expect From The Stocks?

    What Challenges Have Google And Facebook Been Facing And What Can Investors Expect From The Stocks?

    Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google (Alphabet Inc.) on Wednesday, based on a bold claim: Google colluded to exploit online advertisement markets with a major rival, Facebook Inc. The global online ad sales business is dominated by these two firms.

    “Any cooperation between two competitors of this magnitude should raise strong concerns about compliance with antitrust laws.” the Texas complaint says. Google denied the claim, and Facebook refused to comment.

    Obviously, this may entail significant liability on the part of the antimonopoly authorities if the charges are verified.

    The lawsuit relates to an automated advertising technology that guides an online ad to digital advertising. It is intended to raise the fees for putting advertisements that web services, such as news agencies, will earn. The more apps come from a wide variety of sources, the higher the cost.

    In advertisement sales, Google is accused of developing software that gives the social network Facebook advantages. Google may have inflated the cost of ads for its other users due to the proposed contract.

    To judge the prospects of the trial, it is too early. The arrangement referred to in the lawsuit could be presented as a cooperative agreement between the two Internet giants in which Facebook receives from Google services that are required for the functioning of the advertisement network if the specifics of the charges are inconclusive.

    It is very likely that the proceedings will affirm Google’s stance, according to the company, that during the ad sales Facebook does not receive any special data.

    Shares of both businesses respond with high uncertainty, as on Wednesday, nine states entered the Texas lawsuit. More than 80% of Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL) revenue is accounted for by Google’s ad sales. The latest financial report by Alphabet shows that digital advertising revenue is more than $37 billion per year. Stocks will remain under pressure, but despite this the target of Google (GOOGL) stock will be to hit $1925 per share in the medium term, and Facebook (FB) is $300 per share in the medium term.