Alphabet, the parent company of search giant Google, has advanced nearly 38% over the past 12 months, outperforming its tech rivals Apple and Microsoft . With the stock trading at its all-time high of roughly $200 per share, the bull run has sparked concerns among analysts on whether its valuation has peaked.
While the Mountain View, California-based company has remained a Hold according to Seeking Alpha's Quant Rating System, which consistently beats the market, it's a favorite among equity analysts.
Wall Street has overall bullish ratings on Alphabet, with the average price target for the Magnificent 7 member standing at an all-time high.
Reaffirming their bullish recommendations, several brokerages, including Morgan Stanley, Evercore ISI, Jefferies, and Wedbush, hiked their price targets in October after the company comfortably exceeded consensus views for profit and revenue with its Q3 results for 2024.
Despite the stock's recent upsurge, relative valuation appears to favor the stock's long-term trajectory.
"The stock remains appealing due to the deep valuation, especially compared to other Magnificent 7 stocks," Seeking Alpha Investing Group Leader Stone Fox Capital wrote this week, reiterating his Strong Buy recommendation on Alphabet. The analyst argues that GOOGL trades at ~22x in terms of forward PE compared to ~30x for both Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT).
SA analyst Star Investments offered similar views, noting that Alphabet indicates the lowest P/E multiple relative to its peers, including Amazon (AMZN) and Nvidia (NVDA), while trading at a sharp discount to the stock's seven— and ten-year P/E ratio median.
"Risk-tolerant investors interested in buying a solid growth opportunity at a decent value should consider buying Alphabet today," Star Investments added, reaffirming the buy rating.
For SA analyst Luca Socci, the value of Alphabet's robotaxi unit is barely reflected in the company's market cap. "Alphabet appears undervalued, with potential for multiple expansion, especially if Waymo continues its growth trajectory," Socci argued this week.
However, SA coverage on GOOGL is not without skeptics, such as DT Invest, who recently issued a Hold rating on the stock. "The stock appears to be almost perfectly valued at the current level of around $190 per share. That said, the stock has a very limited potential upside from current levels," DT Invest wrote.
GOOGL is also a Hold for SA analyst Hunting Alpha, whose bearish views are backed by a technical analysis of the stock. "The only thing, however that prevents me from declaring the stock a 'Buy' is a misaligned read on the relative technicals vs the S&P 500," Hunting Alpha wrote.
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