Scotiabank Raises Alphabet (GOOGL) Price Target to $310, Maintains Sector Outperform Ahead of Q3 Earnings

Core Insights - Alphabet Inc. is experiencing significant movements in the stock market, with Scotiabank raising its price target from $240.00 to $310.00 ahead of Q3 results [1] - Analyst Nat Schindler predicts Alphabet will report the strongest Q3 results among internet companies, driven by growth in Google Cloud Platform and a recovery in the advertising business [2][4] Financial Performance - Alphabet's core advertising business is showing a "clear recovery," with ad growth returning to double digits due to easier comparisons and increased advertiser spending [2] - Expectations for Google Cloud Platform are high, with anticipated growth and margins likely to meet investor expectations [4] Product Developments - YouTube's monetization challenges with Shorts have been addressed, achieving ad monetization levels comparable to traditional YouTube videos on a per-hour basis, indicating effective AI-driven marketing [3] - The new Ironwood TPU (3nm) chip has demonstrated solid improvements over the previous version, helping to narrow the efficiency gap with Nvidia's chips [3]