Trading Alphabet After Q1 Earnings Beat Expectations

At the end of April, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, announced first quarter earnings which soundly beat expectations as well as declaring its first ever dividend payment to shareholders.

Keep reading to find out more about Alphabet’s first quarter results and to learn what analysts are forecasting for the stock price.

• The Invest.MT5 account allows you to buy real stocks and shares from 15 of the largest stock exchanges in the world.

All trading is high risk and you can lose more than you risk on a trade. Never invest more than you can afford to lose, as some trades will lose and some trades will win. Start small to understand your own risk tolerance levels or practice on a demo account first to build your knowledge before investing.

Alphabet Q1 Performance

Here are some of the key highlights from Alphabet’s first quarter earnings report:

• Revenue of $80.54 billion vs an expected $78.71 billion.
• Earnings per Share (EPS) of $1.89 vs an expected $1.51.
• Operating income of $25.47 billion, an increase of 46% year on year.
• Advertising revenue increased 13% year on year.
• Cloud revenue increased 28% year on year.

Whilst many headlines were stolen by the announcement of the company’s first ever dividend, there was a lot to like within the results as well. The headline figures of revenue and EPS both soundly beat expectations, increasing 15% and 62% year on year respectively.

All of Alphabet’s segments performed strongly during the quarter. Revenue generated from advertising, which is the company’s bread and butter, jumped 13%, as the advertising market appears to be in a much better place than a couple of years ago.

It’s also worth highlighting the continued growth in Google Cloud. In the first quarter, revenue rose by 28% and the segment significantly improved its profitability.

Operating income from the cloud division hit $900 million, up from $191 million a year before. Operating margin, which demonstrates operating income as a percentage of revenue, was 9.4% for the quarter, an impressive improvement from the 2.4% of the previous year.

The cloud computing market continues to grow and the rise of AI workloads is likely to further increase demand for these services in the future. Although the market is dominated by Amazon and Microsoft, Google remains an established player and is well-positioned to potentially benefit from continued rising demand.

In response to these latest earnings, Alphabet’s share price jumped 10%. But where to next for Alphabet stock? It’s possible that the potential future benefits of AI and cloud computing may have already been factored into the share price. Let’s see what the analysts say.

Alphabet Stock Forecast - What do the Analysts Say?

According to analysts polled by TipRanks for an Alphabet stock forecast in the past 3 months, there are currently 31 buy, 5 hold and 0 sell ratings on the stock. The highest price level for an Alphabet stock forecast is $225.00 with the lowest price target at $166.00.

The average price target for an Alphabet stock forecast is currently $194.83.

An Example Trading Idea for the Alphabet Stock Price

An example trading idea for the Alphabet share price could be as follows:  

• Buy the stock on a break above $179.00 to allow for volatility. 
• Target just below the highest analyst price target of $195.00. 
• Keep your risk small at a maximum of 5% of your total account.   
• Time Line = 6 - 12 months  
• If you buy 20 Alphabet shares:  
• If target is reached = $320.00 potential profit [($195.00 - $179.00) * 20 shares].

Remember that markets go up and down and it is unlikely the share price will move up in a straight line. In fact, it may even go much further down before it rises.

Be sure to exercise good risk management and always know how much you could potentially lose on a trade and the risks involved, as well as the costs.

With the Admirals Invest.MT5 account you can buy and sell US stocks with a commission from $0.02 per share. This means buying 20 shares in Alphabet stock would result in a commission of $0.40 ($0.02 * 20 shares) for executing a per-side transaction.

However, there is a low minimum transaction fee of $1. So, the example trading idea above would result in a commission of just $1 overall! 

How to Buy Alphabet Stock in 4 Steps  

With Admirals, you can buy shares with a low commission of just $0.02 per share and a low minimum commission of just $1 on US stocks. 

• Open an account with Admirals to access the dashboard.   
• Open the web trading platform.   
• Search for Alphabet and click the symbol to open a price chart. 
• Click Create New Order from the bottom of the screen to open the trading ticket. 

Click on the banner below to trade Alphabet stock today ▼▼▼ 

Do You See the Alphabet Stock Price Moving Differently?   

Remember that all analytics and trading ideas are based on the personal view and experience of the author.

If you believe there is a higher chance Alphabet share price will move lower, then you can also trade short from a CFD (Contracts for Difference) trading account which Admirals also provide.

The Trade.MT5 and Trade.MT4 account allows you to speculate on the price direction of stocks and shares using CFDs.

This means you can trade long and short to potentially profit from rising and falling stock prices.

INFORMATION ABOUT ANALYTICAL MATERIALS: 

The given data provides additional information regarding all analysis, estimates, prognosis, forecasts, market reviews, weekly outlooks or other similar assessments or information (hereinafter “Analysis”) published on the websites of Admirals investment firms operating under the Admirals trademark (hereinafter “Admirals”) Before making any investment decisions please pay close attention to the following: 

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• The Analysis is prepared by an independent analyst Roberto Rivero, Freelance Contributor (hereinafter "Author") based on personal estimations.
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