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Investing.com - Barclays has raised its price target on Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) stock to $250.00 from $235.00 while maintaining an Overweight rating. The tech giant, currently trading near its 52-week high of $214.65, has demonstrated robust financial health with a market capitalization of $2.56 trillion and strong year-to-date returns of ~12%. According to InvestingPro data, 30 analysts have recently revised their earnings estimates upward for the upcoming period.
The investment bank cited the benign court remedies following years of antitrust litigation as a key factor, comparing the current situation to 2012-2013 when Alphabet’s forward P/E multiple expanded approximately 40% after the Federal Trade Commission dropped its case. Currently trading at a P/E ratio of 22.2, the stock shows strong momentum with a 35% return over the past year.
Barclays noted that after "5+ years of courtroom drama," Google faces only "minor flesh wounds" with the remedy package, with the court denying the Department of Justice’s proposed Chrome divestiture and elimination of Traffic Acquisition Cost (TAC) payments remedies.
The lighter-weight Data Sharing and Syndication remedies may help competitors like ChatGPT and Perplexity compete in the future, but Barclays believes these are "unlikely to change Google’s dominant core search market share."
With regulatory concerns diminishing, Barclays indicates the focus for Alphabet stock will shift back to artificial intelligence developments, particularly "the pace by which agentic AI moves into commercial areas like shopping and travel," while the remedy package "likely paves the way for Gemini distribution on browsers and OEMs." With revenue growth of 13.1% and strong financial metrics, Alphabet appears well-positioned for AI expansion. For deeper insights into Alphabet’s valuation and growth prospects, access the comprehensive Pro Research Report available on InvestingPro.
In other recent news, Google has announced a significant investment plan, committing $9 billion in Virginia through 2026 to enhance its cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure. This investment will include the construction of a new data center in Chesterfield County and partnerships with local entities to address energy capacity needs. Additionally, KeyBanc Capital Markets has raised its price target for Alphabet to $265, maintaining an Overweight rating, following a favorable Department of Justice ruling. The firm views the ruling as a positive development, potentially aligning Alphabet shares with the S&P 500. Meanwhile, DA Davidson increased its price target for Alphabet to $190, citing the growing competitiveness of Google’s Tensor Processing Units in the AI accelerator market. The firm maintained a Neutral rating, noting that Google’s TPUs are becoming a strong alternative to NVIDIA. In the realm of international regulation, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz reaffirmed the EU’s sovereignty in digital market regulation, a stance supported by French President Emmanuel Macron amid criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump. France and Germany remain committed to their digital regulations despite Trump’s threats of additional tariffs.
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