Alphabet's AI Strategy Bounces Back, Treading Towards $2 Trillion Market Value

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11/04/2024 18h56

Title: Alphabet's AI Strategy Bounces Back, Treading Towards $2 Trillion Market Value

In a remarkable turnaround, Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, is regaining investor confidence in its artificial intelligence (AI) strategy after a series of setbacks that caused its shares to stumble. The stock is now on a path towards reaching a record-breaking market value of $2 trillion, a milestone previously achieved only by Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc., and Nvidia Corp. in the United States.

Following concerns that Alphabet was lagging behind in the AI field, its shares plummeted last month. However, the company's recent cloud event has successfully showcased its readiness in the enterprise AI market, despite some glitches and misfires with consumer-facing tools. As attention now shifts to this month's earnings report and an upcoming developer's conference in May, investors are becoming increasingly optimistic about the future of Alphabet's AI endeavors.

While the monetization of Alphabet's AI initiatives remains somewhat uncertain, the stock's enticingly low valuation has continued to attract Wall Street investors. "While the headlines haven't been favorable, Google's role in generative AI products will present massive growth opportunities for the stock," said Sylvia Jablonski, Chief Executive Officer at Defiance ETFs. She further highlighted Alphabet's development of generative AI tools, which have the potential to enhance the precision of advertisements and drive increased revenue from ad spend.

One of Alphabet's recent missteps was its Gemini product, which was seen as a significant setback for a company renowned for its technological prowess. In February, Alphabet paused an image generation feature of Gemini following criticism regarding its inaccurate historical depictions of race. However, the cloud computing conference held by the company in Las Vegas this week offered reassurance as Gemini demonstrated its ability to create advertisements, counter cybersecurity threats, and produce short videos and podcasts. Moreover, Google unveiled a new chip specifically designed to handle AI workloads, further bolstering confidence in the company's AI capabilities.

Adding to the rebound, news emerged that Apple Inc. is considering utilizing Alphabet's Gemini technology to power its own AI services. This development provided an additional boost to Alphabet's shares, which have already seen a 12% increase this year.

Bank of America Corp. analyst Justin Post noted that Google's hardware advancements, progress with Gemini, and AI-driven app demonstrations would contribute to positive sentiment regarding their AI capabilities. He also highlighted the significance of Alphabet's Cloud segment, which is expected to drive faster growth, improve margins, and enhance the company's overall AI credibility.

Currently trading at 21 times forward earnings, below Microsoft's 33 times but in line with the S&P 500 Index, Alphabet's stock saw a modest 0.7% rise on Thursday. With the competitive nature of the search space, experts argue that Alphabet should continue investing in their own businesses to achieve higher returns on investment.

Despite the challenges faced, Alphabet's recent updates have offered investors some much-needed encouragement. Doug Anmuth, an analyst from JP Morgan Chase & Co., expects the integration of Gemini to result in over 20% revenue growth for Google Cloud.

In the broader AI landscape, OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, is working to establish a global coalition among government and industry leaders to support the development of AI technology by boosting the supply of chips, energy, and data center capacity. Adobe Inc. has already begun procuring videos to build its own AI text-to-video generator, aiming to catch up with competitors after OpenAI demonstrated a similar technology. Amazon.com Inc.'s CEO, Andy Jassy, also acknowledged the growing significance of his company's cloud infrastructure in fueling the generative AI boom.

As Alphabet continues to rebound from its recent AI missteps, the company's determination and advancements in the field are positioning it favorably for future growth and success.

The views expressed in this article do not reflect the opinion of ICARO, or any of its affiliates.

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