Alphabet Stock Rises on Analyst Upgrade
On Friday, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) stock rose as much as 3% in early trading before settling at a modest gain of 1.1%. The increase was attributed to an upgrade from analyst Ivan Feinseth at Tigress Financial Partners, who raised his price target for the company's shares to $485 per share (from $415) and reiterated that Alphabet is a 'strong buy.' Feinseth highlighted Alphabet’s leadership in Search, Cloud, and YouTube, as well as its AI-driven growth across these segments. He noted improving revenue, profit margins, and monetization potential despite short-term challenges with return on capital and high capital spending. While many analysts share the positive outlook, concerns remain about Alphabet's free cash flow (FCF), which is significantly lower than reported earnings due to heavy capex for AI infrastructure. The company’s 80x price-to-free-cash-flow ratio raises questions among some investors.
