Alphabet Hits $2 Trillion Market Cap After Strong Quarterly Results
On Friday, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, saw its market cap surpass $2 trillion following impressive quarterly results. The tech giant reported quarterly revenue of $67.59 billion, beating expectations, while earnings per share came in at $1.89, exceeding estimates.
CEO Sundar Pichai highlighted the company’s strong performance in key areas such as Search, YouTube, and Cloud, emphasizing Alphabet’s leadership in AI research. Google executives are confident that the company is well positioned to lead the shift to an AI-centric tech world.
Alphabet also announced a cash dividend program of $0.20 per share and stock repurchases of up to $70 billion. The company reported capital expenditures of $12 billion for the quarter, with a significant portion allocated to servers and data centers.
Cloud revenue saw a notable increase of nearly 30% from the year-earlier period, surpassing $9 billion, while ad revenue, the core of Google’s business, rose by 13% to $61.66 billion.
Despite the positive results, investors are cautious about the costs associated with Alphabet’s AI investments and uncertainties surrounding how AI will impact Google’s search business. This sentiment was further emphasized after Meta noted growing expenses and slow returns on AI investments, causing Meta shares to decline more than 10%.
Looking ahead, Google plans to monetize AI breakthroughs through advertising, cloud services, and subscriptions, with continued investments in AI tools and development. With a strong performance in the recent quarter, Alphabet is poised for further growth in the evolving tech landscape.