Alphabet

Alphabet’s (GOOG, GOOGL) Google DeepMind Chief Executive Demis Hassabis told employees that the company’s artificial intelligence models are more efficient than those of China’s DeepSeek, CNBC reported Friday, citing audio from an all-hands meeting in Paris. Hassabis said DeepSeek’s reported AI training costs were “exaggerated” and that it may have used more hardware and relied on Western AI models, according to the report. “We actually have more efficient, more performant models than DeepSeek,” Hassabis reportedly said. “So we’re very calm and confident in our strategy and we have all the ingredients to maintain our leadership into this year.” The meeting, attended by Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and other executives, included answering employee questions about AI and DeepSeek, CNBC reported.

Alphabet (GOOGL) needs to ship more generative AI/GPU-enabled products to larger groups of users to show it can drive incremental engagement and more durable long-term monetization, Morgan Stanley said in a note to clients Wednesday. “Shipping products and proving that they will indeed provide incremental multi-year revenue and cash flow growth remains the proof point that [Alphabet] needs to show in order to break out of this 16-20X PE multiple on our ~$10.40 of 2026 EPS,” the investment firm said. Morgan Stanley said it cut the company’s 2026 EPS estimate by nearly 4% to $10.36 after its earnings report due to a 1% decrease in revenue and an about 11% increase in D&A. The investment firm cut Alphabet’s price target to $210 from $215, and kept its overweight rating. Shares of Alphabet were down more than 8% in recent trading.

Two leaders have emerged in autonomous-driving technology: Tesla and Alphabet. It’s helping both of their stocks. Tesla plans to launch a self-driving robotaxi service at the end of 2025. Alphabet’s self-driving robotaxi company Waymo already operates in four cities — Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Austin — completing more than 150,000 self-driving taxi rides a week. It plans to launch a robotaxi service in Atlanta in 2025. “We now model Waymo adding three cities in 2026 (Miami and two others), four in 2027, five in 2028, six in 2029, and seven in 2030,” wrote Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak in a Monday evening report. He sees Waymo recording one billion self-driving miles by the end of the decade. Through September 2024, Waymo had driven about 33 million miles with a passenger, but no human driver, in the car. (Americans drive some 3 trillion miles annually.) Autonomous cars can give

Two firms covering Alphabet stock raised price targets on the parent of Google and YouTube. Stifel analyst Mark Kelley boosted his price target on $Alphabet-C (GOOG.US)$ $Alphabet-A (GOOGL.US)$ to $225 from $200 while maintaining a Buy rating. The new price target indicates a potential upside of 17% from the stock’s previous close on Friday. Meanwhile, Wells Fargo analysts led by Ken Gawrelski increased their price target on shares to $190 from $187, and reiterated an Equal Weight rating. Wells Fargo’s new target indicates 1% downside from Friday’s close. Kelley wrote that Alphabet is “a dominant leader in search and ad-supported online video.” He added the company has a “long-term growth opportunity” fueled by artificial intelligence and digital advertising. In addition to Google Gemini, the company’s flagship chatbot and AI assistant, Alphabet offers a fleet of tools for businesses including AI-powered ad solutions. Despite the abundance of AI tools on the

In late November, a start-up called “/dev/agents” captured headlines with its $56 million seed funding round at a $500 valuation. Not bad for a company without a commercial product. It’s easy to see why the buzz was electric: the founding team boasts alumni from Google, Stripe, and Meta Platforms. The company is building an operating system for AI agents. These agents are poised to redefine how we interact with software. The idea is that they run in the background, acting autonomously based on user-provided guidelines and with minimal human oversight. AI agents have become a hot pursuit of tech giants. At Microsoft’s Ignite conference, CEO Satya Nadella sang their praises, while Salesforce rolled out Agentforce, its take on this transformative technology. Not to be outdone, ServiceNow, Workday, and Oracle have joined the race with their own AI agent offerings. “The rapid adoption of AI agents stems from their transformative impact

About the author: Jay Ezrielev is the founder of the economic consulting firm Elevecon and in 2018-2020 was an economic advisor to the chair of the Federal Trade Commission. He holds a doctorate in economics from New York University. The U.S. Department of Justice recently scored a victory in its war against big tech. The agency is using the opportunity to push a radical policy agenda that is likely to harm consumers and reduce economic growth. Courts should reject these harmful policies and save consumers from the very agencies that are meant to be protecting them. The D.C. District Court found in August that Alphabet subsidiary Google violated antitrust law by entering exclusive distribution agreements that made Google’s search engine the default option. The DOJ and state plaintiffs have now proposed a remedy to undo the effects of these agreements. In addition to forbidding these agreements, the proposed remedy forces

Alphabet’s latest results give analysts at Wedbush confidence that the parent company of Google is set to manage a period of transition. Alphabet’s 3Q results were powered by strong performance in its cloud-computing division, while Google’s search engine and YouTube video platform both reported slowing revenue growth for a second straight quarter. The analysts note Google’s integration of Gemini into its core services is starting to result in tangible results across consumer and enterprise products. “We continue to believe the structural risks to Google’s search dominance are overblown, and we are optimistic on the longer-term prospects of the search business as Google manages through this period of transition,” say the analysts, who raise their price target to $210 from $205. Shares rise 6.6% to $180.92 in early trading.

The Justice Department has suggested a breakup of Alphabet’s Google as a potential way to address its de facto search monopoly. The company is fighting back against the prospect. If it happens, however, investors might not be all that upset. “The government seems to be pursuing a sweeping agenda that will impact numerous industries and products, with significant unintended consequences for consumers, businesses, and American competitiveness,” wrote Lee-Anne Mulholland, Alphabet’s vice president of regulatory affairs in a Tuesday blog post. To call it a big deal would be an understatement. A breakup of a monopoly hasn’t happened since AT&T was split into pieces in the 1980s. The Justice Department has until Nov. 20 to decide on what specific remedy it is seeking. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who ruled in August that Google has a monopoly in search, is expected to rule next year on what action should be taken.

JP Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth expects negative headlines for Google’s parent-company Alphabet, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) when the Department of Justice (DOJ) proposes a broad and punitive set of potential remedies against the company this week. The DOJ is expected to file a high-level framework for potential remedies on Tuesday in its search distribution trial against Google. Anmuth said he expects the DOJ to file a “wide-ranging and far-reaching set of potential remedies, most likely more than the DOJ thinks it could ultimately win.” The JP Morgan analyst sees five potential remedies which could include: No exclusive default search agreements for Google across all browsers, OEMs and carriers The separation of Android & Chrome from Google The separation of Google Search ads from Google Limitations on how Google can implement AI in search Data sharing, including providing API or patent access to search competitors Anmuth predicted Google could see up to a 10% hit on

By Emily Bary A Bernstein analyst says it’s still ‘difficult to defend’ pitching Alphabet shares with conviction given various regulatory and competitive risks Are Alphabet Inc. shares a bargain – or justifiably cheap? That’s a question Bernstein analyst Mark Shmulik recently explored, as he noted some striking data points. For one, Alphabet shares (GOOG) (GOOGL) are trading at nearly their largest-ever discount to the S&P 500 SPX when looking at forward price-to-earnings multiples, and the actual record discount was set just a few weeks ago. The stock is also trading at its largest discount to Meta Platforms Inc. shares (META) on record. If you looked at the Google parent company’s forecasts without knowing the company behind them, you would likely be tempted to buy, Shmulik said. Shares are trading at 19 times forward earnings estimates but the company is projected to grow revenue at a 11% annual clip through 2027.

Alphabet’s (GOOG) Google faces uncertainty around its search business, with investors now factoring in a possible loss of exclusivity with Apple (AAPL), Oppenheimer said in a note emailed Wednesday. “Google generates 31% of gross search revenue ($61B) via Apple devices and pays 36% to Apple for exclusivity, resulting in 19% of net ad exposure,” Oppenheimer said. However, Google would need to retain only 65% of Apple search activity if there were no traffic acquisition cost payment, or 75% if the TAC decreases to 15%, it added. This could cap price-to-equity ration at 20, the brokerage said in the note. However, a survey showed that 75% users would go for Google if they had to pick a default search, and if Apple removed Google from default search, 78% would download Chrome, Oppenheimer said. The US Department of Justice’s case against Google’s Adtech unit is also a headwind which could translate to

What would Alphabet be worth if it were broken up into parts? According to TD Cowen, significantly more money than it is worth now. On Monday, analyst John Blackledge valued each of Alphabet’s businesses as if they were separated from the company. “Ongoing legal action opens up Alphabet to a wide range of potential longer-term remedies, including separation of one or more of its businesses,” he wrote. “As a result, we expect investors to increasingly focus on biz segment valuations.” Early in August, Alphabet lost its antitrust case against the U.S. government. Judge Amit P. Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that Google’s search engine is a monopoly and engaged in anticompetitive behaviors to “maintain its monopoly.” Bloomberg and the New York Times also reported later that the Justice Department is considering asking the judge to break up Google. In total, the aggregate value