Major Wall Street banks remain bullish on Alphabet following the tech titan’s strong third-quarter results . On Tuesday, Google’s parent company reported earnings of $2.12 per share, while analysts polled by LSEG had predicted $1.85 per share. The company’s revenue grew 15% year over year to $88.27 billion, more than the same quarter last year and the $86.30 billion analysts had anticipated. Shares of Alphabet popped about 6% on the back of the results. GOOGL YTD mountain GOOGL YTD chart Analysts from major Wall Street shops including Barclays, Citi, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley all reiterated their overweight or buy-equivalent rating on the stock Here were the analysts’ latest price targets. Alphabet’s Class A shares closed at $169.68 on Tuesday afternoon. Barclays: Raised to $220 from $200, new forecast implies 29% upside Citi: Raised to $216 from $212, new forecast implies 27% upside JPMorgan: Raised to $212 from $208, new forecast implies 25% upside Bank of America: Raised to $210 from $206, new forecast implies 24% upside Goldman Sachs: Raised to $210 from $208, new forecast implies 24% upside Morgan Stanley: Raised to $205 from $190, new forecast implies 21% upside “Almost everything is moving in a good direction for GOOGL, with the AI story progressing, a stable macro for digital ads, strong cost controls despite infra investments, and solid FCF,” wrote Barclays analyst Ross Sandler. “We think shares could remain choppy as we work through the Search remedies, given the large impact zone, but performance in 3Q was solid.” Although Alphabet has been threatened by near-term disruption risks such as regulatory overhangs, analysts believe that the firm’s generative artificial intelligence strength is enough to outweigh these headwinds. “A frequent discussion w/investors into earnings was whether Google could post a quarter that would shift the narrative from the search trial w/the DOJ & enable the stock to break out — we think this one comes pretty close,” said JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs’ Eric Sheridan also commended the firm for its strong investment cycle, which includes investments into Google’s Cloud infrastructure and more AI deployment through its application ecosystem. “How this compounded capex translates into returns / sustained revenue growth (with early positive proof points in Q3) will likely remain a key debate for investors going forward,” he added.
