Jefferies Upgrades Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) to "Buy" with Increased Price Target

Core Viewpoint - Jefferies has upgraded Alphabet Inc. to a "Buy" rating and raised its 12-month price target to $285, reflecting the company's advancements in artificial intelligence and the potential of Google Gemini [1][5]. Group 1: Stock Performance - Alphabet's stock was priced at approximately $244.63 at the time of the rating update and has seen a slight increase to $245.70, with a daily fluctuation between a low of $242.31 and a high of $246.81 [1][3]. - Over the past year, Alphabet's stock reached a high of $256 and a low of $140.53, with a current market capitalization of approximately $2.97 trillion [4][5]. - Today's trading volume for Alphabet's stock is 21.66 million shares, indicating strong investor interest [4]. Group 2: AI Advancements - Jefferies analysts highlighted the "untapped potential" of Google Gemini, suggesting it could transform search capabilities into the "ultimate decision engine" [2]. - Features like Circle to Search and Google Lens are enhancing the search experience by providing multi-modality across browsers such as Chrome and Safari [2]. - The analysts believe that AI is not a zero-sum game and foresee Google as a leading copilot for consumers, especially with the integration of search, AI Overviews, and Gemini/AI Mode into a unified interface [2]. Group 3: Competitive Analysis - In a comparison of AI capabilities, while OpenAI's ChatGPT performed best overall, Google Gemini excelled in image generation [3].