David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Larry Page, CEO of Google's parent, Alphabet.
Alphabet shares soared after the company on Monday reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue for the last quarter. Parent of global search engine Google, Alphabet's positive numbers came despite fears about an immediate impact from Europe's new privacy rules and revealed that the company spent slightly less to drive traffic to its site.
As of the latest reading, Alphabet shares rose 4.2 percent in premarket trading.
Here's a wrap of all the major analyst opinions going out to Wall Street pros on Tuesday.
J.P. Morgan Chase (Overweight):"Overall, Alphabet continues to execute well as increased investments are driving revenue upside, though we believe additional quarters of margin stabilization are likely needed to see strong follow-through ... We reiterate our Overweight rating and are establishing a December 2019 price target of $1,440 based on roughly 24.5x our 2020 estimated Alphabet GAAP earnings per share."
Bank of America (Buy):"A stronger revenue quarter (we estimate ex-FX ad acceleration) that flowed through to bottom line may remind investors that Google is a solid growth and execution company. Visibility on Google Cloud (July conference) and Waymo progress and traction for new ad features and formats in the fall could be next catalysts. Backing out cash and Other Bets losses, the stock is trading at 22x 2019E pre-call P/E, which we see as attractive."
"A solid quarter for core Google versus estimates, with most of the $400 million in net revenue upside flowing through to bottom line."
Morgan Stanley (Overweight):"Alphabet's $85 billion annualized Websites business accelerated on an ex-FX basis to 24 percent year over year growth, driven by 44 percent year over year mobile search growth, 32 percent YouTube growth, and 12 percent desktop search growth. This speaks to Alphabet's innovation, user/advertiser focus, and ability to build and monetize around its seven 1-billion-user platforms. Second, we are still early in the monetization of these user bases as Alphabet is investing in new monetization opportunities such as YouTube subscriptions that we think could drive 13X higher user monetization, new ad products in Maps which we think could conservatively reach $2 billion to $3 billion of annualized revenue, and hardware/assistant driving cross-device benefits, among others."
Goldman Sachs (Buy):"Alphabet reported second-quarter total revenue of $32.7 billion, versus FactSet consensus of $32.2 billion. Total revenue increased 23 percent on a constant currency basis, versus our expectation for 21 percent. Google Sites revenue of $23.3 billion compares to consensus of $22.8 billion, while Network revenue of $4.8 billion was in line with consensus. Alphabet recognized $5.1 billion in operating expenditure due to the EU fine in 2Q. GAAP operating profit was $7.9 billion, generating margins of 24.1 percent compared to consensus expectations for $7.8 billion, and 24.2 percent respectively. Including the fine, operating income was $2.8 billion and operating margins were 8.6 percent."
Deutsche (Buy):"We reiterate our Buy rating on Google and see shares lifting over the next twelve months, as the margin deterioration overhang moves further into the rearview mirror across both traffic acquisition costs and overall operating margins. In addition, we see Waymo commercialization later this year as an additional positive catalyst given the company’s technology leadership in a market with enormous total addressable market and potential for increased disclosure / separate capitalization over time. We would add to positions as we see the stock as under-owned and now supported by a compelling medium narrative on top of a durable high-quality name with meaningful value not currently reflected in the shares, in our view."
UBS (Buy):"Alphabet presented a strong second-quarter 2018 earnings report across the board – re-accelerating Sites revenues year over year growth (ex f/x), lower than expected Sites traffic acquisition costs, and strong margins. Compared to the last few earnings, this was a straight-forward report without much of the 'noise' that has dominated the investor debate/reactions to Alphabet over the past six months."
Jefferies (Buy):"Second-quarter results felt similar to first-quarter results — in a positive way (except for European Council fine): strong top line, operating expenditure well controlled quarter over quarter though margin still compressed year over year, and elevated capital expenditure. Core search remains strong (led by mobile trends), and we continue to see large potential from four "call options" (YouTube, Cloud, hardware, Waymo), which should help drive the next $100 billion in revenues. Valuation still reasonable at 13x NTM EV/EBITDA. Raise price target to $1,450."
KeyBanc (Buy):"We continue to recommend owning Alphabet shares. Alphabet continues to invest heavily in front of large growth opportunities, while its core ad business continues to churn out impressive growth. We believe strong growth potential remains in opportunities with cloud, hardware, YouTube, Waymo, and Other Bets, which should add significant value over time. As a result, our price target increases to $1,430 based on 18x NTM EV/Google EBITDA plus $25 billion of value for Other Bets."
Stifel (Buy):"Alphabet reported second-quarter 2018 revenue ahead of our and consensus estimates as Alphabet demonstrated continued momentum lead by mobile search growth along with contributions from YouTube, desktop search, AdMob, programmatic, Cloud, Play, and hardware. Alphabet’s operating margin (excluding one-time items) was in line with consensus expectations and beat our forecast. Importantly, traffic acquisition cost growth moderated relative to prior quarters. We reiterate our Buy rating and raise our price target to $1,456."
Moffett Nathanson (Buy):"While organic top-line growth (excluding FX) continued to power along at 23 percent, this quarter’s results were notable because there appears to be minimal confusion or concern around spending patterns or operating margins. So while reported gross revenues increased $400 million faster than our forecasts, total expenses were only $473 million, higher than our forecast. As such, reported second-quarter GAAP operating income of $2.8 billion, including the EU fine of $5.071 billion, was only $74 million below our forecast. Given the ramp in recent investment for Cloud and Hardware, we consider this a victory in modeling and listening!"
