GOOGL stock soared 36% in three months, propelled not just by steady revenue gains and a modest bump in profit margins, but by a striking surge in investor optimism that pushed its valuation multiple up 30%. See – Google's Unloved Stock Finally Gets Its Due – for more details.

META is Alphabet's counterpart within the Interactive Media & Services sector that possesses:

Alphabet remains the global AI leader, with unmatched achievements like Deep Mind's Alpha Fold, its advanced AI processors (TPUs), and deploying Gemini AI across 100's of millions of devices. GOOG's decade-long head start in designing custom AI chips and deploying large-scale data centers gives it a significant competitive advantage over OpenAI. Google's massive data center infrastructure and FY25 $85 billion cap-ex spend will reinforce its dominance in AI and boost Google Cloud's competitive position.

Alphabet stands out as the most resilient and best-positioned long-term winner in the evolving AI landscape. GOOGL benefits from AI-driven efficiency, strong market share in productivity tools, and the transformative potential of YouTube content creation. With a robust balance sheet and prudent debt management, GOOGL is well-equipped to weather an AI recession and capitalize on industry consolidation.

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares surged to a fresh all-time high of $256.17 on Thursday morning, driven by the tech giant's continued innovation across artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and digital advertising. Thursday's rally comes after Google unveiled a new 27-billion-parameter model for single-cell biology, C2S-Scale 27B, based on its Gemma platform.

Despite Alphabet Inc.'s massive scale, AI represents a transformative opportunity where size becomes a force multiplier rather than a growth constraint. GOOGL is aggressively investing in global AI infrastructure, including data centers, TPUs, and networking, to build a durable competitive moat. These CapEx investments create structural advantages, operational leverage, and the ability for GOOGL to serve complex AI workloads more efficiently than competitors.

Alphabet Inc. earns a Strong Buy rating, driven by robust Q2 '25 results and consistent outperformance versus market expectations. GOOGL's 14% revenue growth, expanding cloud margins, and strong AI monetization highlight operational excellence and future growth potential. Despite higher CapEx and depreciation from AI investments, GOOGL's financial strength and dominant market positions support continued long-term upside.

Alphabet (GOOGL) has faced setbacks in the past. Its stock fell by over 30% within a timeframe of fewer than 2 months in 2022, erasing billions in market capitalization and wiping out significant profits in one correction.

Last month, shares in Alphabet (GOOG 2.17%) (GOOGL 2.23%), parent company of Google and YouTube, went on a hot run. During this time frame, this "Magnificent Seven" stock surged in price, as concerns about competition and regulatory scrutiny subsided.

Wall Street is gearing up for a very busy end to October, as some of the world's biggest technology companies will report their operating results for the quarter ended Sept. 30. Analysts will be particularly focused on their progress in the artificial intelligence (AI) space, because it's creating a significant amount of value right now.