Investor spirits were lifted after Google parent Alphabet avoided a worst-case scenario breakup in an antitrust case. After Google was found to hold an illegal monopoly in its core market of internet search last year, the U.S. Department of Justice proposed Google divest some of its assets, including selling its Chrome browser. But U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled in Alphabet’s favor on Tuesday, vying against some of the more severe proposed consequences. He decided the company will not have to sell Chrome but will be barred from exclusive contracts that condition payments or licensing. “Google will not be required to divest Chrome; nor will the court include a contingent divestiture of the Android operating system in the final judgment,” the decision stated. “Plaintiffs overreached in seeking forced divestiture of these key assets, which Google did not use to effect any illegal restraints.” Shares of Alphabet were last trading 6% higher in Wednesday’s premarket. The stock has added more than 11% in 2025. GOOG 5D mountain GOOG 5D chart This positive decision helped reinforce Wall Street’s bullishness on shares of Alphabet. Most of those covering the stock maintained a buy-equivalent rating on the stock, while some firms such as Barclays and JPMorgan upped their price target. Here’s what analysts at some of the Street’s biggest shops are saying following the ruling: Barclays: Price target raised to $250 Barclays’ new price target of $250, up from $235, implies upside of 18% from here. “GOOGL shares should continue to move higher following a very bullish remedy package from the court. With Chrome/TAC payment ban off the table, we see very little market share, rev or EPS impact from data sharing and syndication.” Bank of America: Price target raised to $252 Bank of America raised its price target for Alphabet to $252 from $217. This updated forecast implies shares could rally 19% from here. “Since the potential for a Chrome divestiture seemed remote, our top takeaway is the judgment preserves Google’s ability to maintain its search distribution position through TAC [traffic acquisition costs] payments to partners. Given superior Google search monetization, we believe most partners will remain aligned with Google, with little incentive to develop their own search capabilities.” JPMorgan: Price target raised to $260 The bank’s new price target of $260, lifted from $232, corresponds to a 23% upside. “The long awaited Google Search Commercial Agreement remedies announced Tuesday afternoon were much more favorable for Google than anticipated, particularly as the Judge took into account the rapidly evolving and increasingly competitive search landscape spurred by GenAI. Even as the bar for remedies moved higher through August w/GOOGL shares closing at an all-time high on the last day of the month, the Judge’s conclusions were mostly positive for Google and we see them having no major impact to financials going forward, which is a win.” Deutsche Bank: Price target raised to $260 “We believe this outcome provides clear visibility for Alphabet’s long-term fundamentals, and limits the risk of structural dislocation in Search, supporting a substantial positive rerating of the stock. On the back of these developments, we also lower our regulatory discount, and as a result increase our target price to $260 from ($215) which is based on 24x (from 20x) our FY26 GAAP EPS estimate, in-line with the market multiple, despite GOOG’s faster growth, AI tailwinds, Cloud acceleration, and improving margin structure.” Morgan Stanley “Analysis of Judge Mehta’s remedies (TAC, data sharing/ syndication) highlight how they are likely benign and unlikely to dislodge GOOGL’s leading position. Revisions, product innovation, and commercial behavior trends matter now to push toward our $260 bull case.” Wolfe Research “We have sized the potential implication from this outcome as a MSD% headwind to EPS. The EPS headwind we estimate assumes Google loses some market share to competitors making deals with Apple over the mid-to-long term. In the near-term, under current operating conditions, we don’t expect material impact to Google’s EPS.” Goldman Sachs “We recognize that the magnitude of the impact from these remedies to Alphabet’s business will likely not be fully understood for a number of years and, as a result, the multiple investors are willing to pay may continue to be capped for some time. That said, we think that Alphabet’s current valuation is already pricing in notable headwinds and see the potential for this decision to act as some ‘relief’ on the multiple overhang on Alphabet’s shares (that was resulting from the uncertainty surrounding this decision). In total, we continue to be constructive on Alphabet’s long-term strategic positioning across many end-markets (both consumer & enterprise-facing; search & non-search) and continue to see the company as the leading collection of AI/machine learning-driven businesses in our coverage universe.” Citi “We believe the ruling was largely as expected, removing a key overhang on the stock, while also underscoring the increasingly competitive Search market. Google is likely to appeal the decision with an appeals process that could last several years. We reiterate our Buy rating on shares of GOOGL as Search and Cloud revenue growth accelerated in 2Q as its AI and Gemini models increasingly launch innovative offerings.” Evercore ISI “Bottom line, we view these results as a ‘best case scenario’ and reiterate GOOGL as our top pick.”
