Financial Report Outlook | "Strong contender for resisting economic uncertainty"! Major banks are optimistic about Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOGL.US) results before Q1.

Alphabet Inc. Class C's parent company Alphabet (GOOGL.US) is scheduled to release its first-quarter earnings report after the market closes on Thursday, Eastern Time. Analysts are generally optimistic about the tech giant's ability to withstand economic uncertainty. The market expects Alphabet to achieve a revenue of $89.22 billion in the first quarter, an 11% year-on-year increase; net profit of $24.71 billion, with earnings per share of $2.01, higher than the $23.66 billion and $1.89 per share in the same period last year. Among the 19 analysts covering Alphabet tracked by VisibleAlpha, 14 have given the stock a "buy" or equivalent rating, while the remaining analysts have given a "hold" rating. The consensus target price of analysts is close to $195, which means the stock has approximately 29% upside compared to the closing price of around $151 on Thursday. Citigroup analysts recently stated that they expect Alphabet Inc. Class C search to be "one of the latest platforms to be affected by macroeconomic influences and one of the first to recover." Citigroup also emphasized that with the application of artificial intelligence tools such as Alphabet Inc. Class C search AI model and the launch of the company's latest version of the Gemini large language model, Alphabet Inc. Class C has strong growth potential. Morgan Stanley also pointed out that the "AI-driven innovation on search and YouTube platforms" is the reason for its confidence in the long-term growth sustainability of Alphabet Inc. Class C. Citigroup and Morgan Stanley have set target prices of $195 and $185 for Alphabet, respectively. However, Alphabet also faces challenges and opportunities from various external factors. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled on April 17 that Alphabet Inc. Class C's online digital advertising market violated antitrust laws. Within less than a year, two federal judges ruled that Alphabet illegally monopolized the network advertising technology field and the network search business field. This may lead to potential business restructuring and a possible change in the competitive landscape of its advertising technology field. During the earnings conference call, Alphabet may be asked by analysts about the aforementioned ruling and future direction. Citigroup analysts stated that considering this ruling result, "if Alphabet Inc. Class C ultimately divests its advertising network, we would not be surprised," but the core business of Alphabet Inc. Class C may not be greatly affected. As of Thursday's close, Alphabet's stock has fallen by one-fifth since the beginning of 2025. The U.S. stock market will be closed on Friday due to Good Friday. Reviewing previous earnings data, Alphabet achieved a revenue of $96.469 billion in Q4, a 12% year-on-year increase, but slightly lower than the analysts' expected $96.62 billion; net profit was $26.536 billion, a 28% year-on-year increase; earnings per share was $2.15, exceeding the $1.64 in the same period last year, but falling short of the market's expected $2.13. In this quarter, Alphabet Inc. Class C's search advertising slightly exceeded analysts' expectations, bringing in $54 billion in sales, however, its advertising business as a whole seemed to pale in comparison to Meta Platforms (META.US). At the same time, Alphabet Inc. Class C's cloud business performance was disappointing, with growth slowing from the third quarter. Nevertheless, Alphabet Inc. Class C announced that it will continue to increase its investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure in 2025, with capital expenditures expected to reach a "staggering" $75 billion. Chief Financial Officer Anant Askenazi said that capital spending in the first quarter is expected to reach $16-18 billion, helping the company meet the growing demand for computing from customers.