Why Alphabet Stock Soared This Week

Core Insights - Alphabet's stock experienced an 8.2% increase in the last week of trading, driven by strong quarterly results, with a year-to-date increase of 48.5% [1][3] Financial Performance - Alphabet reported non-GAAP earnings per share of $3.10 on revenue of $102.35 billion, surpassing Wall Street's expectations of $2.33 EPS on $99.89 billion revenue [3][7] - The Google Cloud division generated sales of $15.15 billion, exceeding the forecast of $14.74 billion, fueled by demand related to artificial intelligence [3][7] - YouTube advertising revenue reached $10.26 billion, also beating expectations of $10.01 billion [3][7] Capital Expenditures and Investments - Alphabet is significantly increasing its investments in data center infrastructure to support AI initiatives, with CEO Sundar Pichai announcing a revised capital expenditure target of $91 billion to $93 billion for the year, up from a previous estimate of $85 billion [4][7]