Google parent Alphabet, Inc. GOOG GOOGL second-quarter results beat Wall Street’s expectations for the tenth straight quarter on Wednesday. Analysts are responding by raising their price targets across the board. Click here to see what experts are saying about GOOG stock here. Q2 Results: Google parent Alphabet reported revenue of $96.43 billion, beating analyst estimates of $93.72 billion. The company reported second-quarter earnings of $2.31 per share, beating the Street estimate of $2.16 per share.Total ...

Core Insights - Alphabet (GOOGL) shares surged by up to 4% following the release of its Q1 earnings, which significantly exceeded expectations [1][6] - Despite a strong performance, GOOGL shares are down 14% year-to-date, although they have gained 37% over the last three years, outperforming the S&P 500 [2] Q1 Financial Performance - Alphabet reported Q1 sales of $76.48 billion, a 13% increase from $67.59 billion in the same quarter last year, surpassing estimates of $75.52 billion by 1% [3][4] - The company's Q1 EPS reached $2.81, exceeding expectations of $2.02 by 39% and increasing 48% from $1.89 per share a year ago [4][6] - Key segments such as Google Search, YouTube advertising, and Google Cloud all experienced double-digit revenue growth during Q1 [4][6] Future Outlook - Alphabet did not provide specific full-year guidance but indicated that advertising revenue from Google services may be affected by previous strengths in the financial services sector throughout 2024 [7] - The company noted that its cloud services are in a tight supply-demand environment, with potential variability in revenue growth rates based on capacity deployment, although higher capacity deployment is expected towards the end of the year [8] Sales and Earnings Projections - According to Zacks estimates, Alphabet's total sales are projected to rise by 9% in fiscal 2025 and by another 10% in FY26, reaching $355.95 billion [9] - Annual earnings are expected to increase by 8% this year and are projected to rise by 14% in FY26 to $9.90 per share [9] Shareholder Returns - In Q1, Alphabet returned $15.1 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and $2.4 billion in dividend payments [12] - The company announced a 5% increase in its quarterly dividend, raising it from $0.80 to $0.84 per share, marking its first dividend increase since initiating payouts in June 2024 [13][14]