IonQ reaches 1,000 patents milestone with new quantum computing grants
Tuesday, Wolfe Research adjusted its outlook on Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by reducing the price target to $190 from $210, while maintaining the Outperform rating on the company's stock. Currently trading at 18.25x earnings with a market capitalization of $1.8 trillion, InvestingPro analysis suggests the stock is undervalued, with the shares trading near their 52-week low of $140.53. Wolfe Research anticipates that Alphabet's first-quarter revenue and earnings per share (EPS) may align with or fall short of market expectations. The firm's analysis suggests that advertising budgets for Search have remained relatively stable, with only a slight decrease and a cautious but not significant pause in spending.
YouTube continues to perform well, and the trends in enterprise Cloud services appear to be holding steady. Alphabet's management does not typically provide official forward-looking guidance, which, according to Wolfe Research, somewhat mitigates risk for the company. Capital expenditure (CapEx) is expected to be a key area of focus, and the firm does not foresee a reduction in Alphabet's fiscal year 2025 guidance.
Wolfe Research also sees potential for operational expenditure (OpEx) reductions as an added benefit and considers foreign exchange rates to likely have a positive impact. Despite the lower revenue expectations for Search, the research firm finds the risk/reward balance for Alphabet stock to be favorable. The current trading price, at approximately 14 times forward earnings, is believed to reflect a possible 1-2 percentage point shortfall in Search revenue.
In other recent news, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and other tech giants known as the Magnificent Seven experienced significant movements in the stock market. Nvidia saw a notable increase of 2.9% in premarket trading, accompanied by similar upward trends for Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Meta (NASDAQ:META), Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Alphabet, and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). However, the Bloomberg Magnificent 7 index, which tracks these companies, has faced a 24% decline this year after a 67% rise in 2024. In other developments, Google launched Sec-Gemini v1, an experimental AI model aimed at enhancing cybersecurity measures, outperforming other models in key benchmarks by 11% and 10.5% respectively. Additionally, Rapidus, a Japanese chipmaker, is in discussions with Apple and Google for the mass production of advanced semiconductors by 2027, with a prototype chip line already operational in Hokkaido. Meanwhile, Tesla led declines among the Magnificent Seven, dropping 9.2% amid broader market sell-offs. The ongoing trade tensions, marked by new tariffs, have also led to significant market value losses for Apple and Amazon.
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