Jefferies Sees Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Data Moat and Cloud Growth Driving Long-Term Upside

Group 1 - Alphabet Inc. is recognized as one of the top software infrastructure stocks to buy, with Jefferies reaffirming a Buy rating and raising the price target from $320 to $365 [1] - Jefferies highlights Alphabet's "unrivaled data moat" and its ability to maintain Gemini's dominant position, supported by a broad product ecosystem with seven platforms each having over 2 billion monthly active users [2] - The firm anticipates net revenue growth to moderate to around 13% in 2026, following two years of approximately 15% growth, while operating margins are projected to expand by about 140 basis points to around 39% [3] Group 2 - Jefferies believes that despite Alphabet's 2026 EV/EBITDA valuation of 17.6x being near a 15-year peak, strong earnings growth justifies a higher valuation, with potential multiples expanding toward pre-global financial crisis levels in a bull case scenario [4] - Alphabet Inc. is the parent company of Google and is a leader in internet-related services and products, including online advertising technologies, search engines, cloud computing, software, and hardware [5]