What to Expect From Alphabet Earnings

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter financial results after the markets close on Monday. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters call for $8.10 in earnings per share (EPS) on $20.77 billion in revenue. In the same period of the previous year, the company posted EPS of $6.76 and revenue of $18.10 billion.

Could Alphabet be on its way to within striking distance of unseating Apple as the most valuable company in the world by market cap? The reality is that the multi-class structure of shares makes that a misnomer because so much of the control is locked away and out of reach.

Google’s morphing into Alphabet also made this company more complicated to some investors, and the reality is that Larry Page and Sergey Brin are truly in control with their own team in place to run the show here. Before thinking that they deserve a bash, we still have to consider that Alphabet/Google shares have risen handily.

The addition of Ruth Porat as chief financial officer was another move to get the company further along with adult supervision, and some market pundits have speculated that a Google dividend’s time has arrived. The reality is that Alphabet, or whatever you want to call it, has done more than just well for investors, and paying a dividend is solely up to a handful of people.
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A few analysts weighed in on Alphabet prior to the release of its earnings report:

• Raymond James reiterated a Buy rating with a $790 price target.
• Wedbush has a Neutral rating but increased its price target to $800 from $740.
• Nomura reiterated a Buy rating with a price target of $900.
• Sanford Bernstein reiterated a Buy rating.
• Morgan Stanley reiterated an Overweight rating with an $820 price target.
• Pacific Crest reiterated an Overweight rating with an $850 price target.

So far in 2016, Alphabet has outperformed the market, with the stock down only 2% year to date. Over the past 52-weeks the stock is up nearly 50%.

Shares of Alphabet closed Friday up 1.7% at $761.35, with a consensus analyst price target of $860.69 and a 52-week trading range of $521.72 to $798.69. In early trading indications Monday, the stock was up an additional 1.7% at $774.61.