Investing

Why Alphabet Is Best-in-Class Stock for 2024

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) is now in the $2 trillion club for mega-mega caps. If the price targets and ratings prove to be correct, the Alphabet shares could be going much higher. And there may not need to be a worry after the pullback from earnings. That small pullback may have just been profit taking. In fact, the trading reaction was no “gap and crap” chart pattern with a big gap-up followed by an immediate giveback of all the gains.

The consensus analyst target price was $166.71 ahead of earnings. Its pre-earnings closing price was $156.00. But then analysts went from a slight premium to a major premium because now the consensus analyst price target a week after earnings is just above $190. Some analysts are even brandishing price targets handily above $200.

This has to be all exciting for Alphabet investors. Now the stock just has to do one thing for those tactical bulls to become perma-bull. It just needs to keep the 2024 stock surge going. Keep in mind, even after the post-earnings pullback, Alphabet at the time of this publishing was up a whopping 19.5% year-to-date.

Alphabet’s impressive earnings report was also followed with a long-awaited dividend announcement. The king of search and ads also came with news of a $70 billion for addition share buybacks. Strong earnings, dividends, buybacks, all-time highs. And the stock doesn’t even act like antitrust regulatory attempts even matter…  What more can a bull ask for?

THE ANALYST CALLS?

Tracking every single analyst call may be a fool’s errand. Still, you will see just how analysts have raised their price targets. And for a $167 share price as of this time, this is well above 10% more in upside to just the average analyst price target. And it’s over 20% in implied upside if the more bullish analyst price targets are hit. As a reminder, most analyst price targets are issued for roughly a 12-month outlook.

Here are the ratings that were reiterated, and the price target hikes tracked by the Tactical Bulls site.

Raymond James (Outperform) raised to $200 from $160.

J.P. Morgan (Overweight) raised its target to $200 from $165.

Wedbush (Outperform) raised to $205 from $175.

Jefferies (Buy) raised to $200 from $180.

KeyBanc (Overweight) raised to $175 from $165.

Citi (Buy) raised its target to $190 from $168.

Needham (Buy) raised its target to $210 from $160.

Barclays (overweight) raised its target to $200 from $173.

Susquehanna (Positive) raised its target to $225 from $179.

Argus (Buy) raised to $200 from $170.

Wolfe Research (Outperform) raised its target to $200 from $180.

Truist (Buy) raised its target to $190 from $170.

Stifel (Buy) raised its target to $196 from $174.

Canaccord Genuity (Buy) raised to $210 from $190.

BMO Capital (Outperform) raised to $215 from $185.

Bernstein (Market Perform) raised its target to $180 from $165.

Oppenheimer (Outperform) to $205 from $185.

TD Cowen (Buy) raised to $200 from $170.

RBC Capital Markets (Outperform) raised to $200 from $155.

Robert W. Baird ((Outperform) raised to $200 from $160.

STILL SOME SEMI-CAUTIOUS CALLS

Not everyone has monster price targets here.

Wells Fargo had maintained an Equal-Weight rating, but the price target was still raised to $168 from $141.

Loop Capital maintained its Hold rating but still raised its target price to $170 from $155.

TACTICAL BULL OR PERMA-BULL?

It really feels like the tactical bullish call for Alphabet is more of a “perma-bull” due to a continued positive analyst ratings and even more upside projections. Remember, this is all on top of a 20% year-to-date gain at current prices.

Categories: Investing

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