Core Insights - Alphabet (GOOGL) has returned a total of $357 billion to its investors over the past ten years through dividends and share buybacks, ranking it as the 3rd greatest total in history for shareholder returns [2][3] Company Performance - The capacity for payouts through dividends and buybacks indicates management's confidence in the company's financial health and ability to generate sustainable cash flows [3] - GOOGL has a revenue growth rate of 13.4% for the last twelve months (LTM) and an 11.0% average growth rate over the last three years [8] - The company has a free cash flow margin of almost 19.1% and an operating margin of 32.2% for LTM [8] - The lowest annual revenue growth for GOOGL in the past three years was 5.3% [8] - Alphabet stock is currently traded at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 23.6 [8] Market Context - The total capital returned to shareholders as a percentage of the current market cap appears inversely related to growth expectations for reinvestments, with companies like Meta (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) showing faster growth but returning a lesser proportion of their market cap to shareholders [5] - Despite strong fundamentals, GOOGL has experienced significant pullbacks, including a 65% drop during the Global Financial Crisis and a 44% decline during the inflationary shock [6]