Technology

Why Alphabet's Mixed Earnings Aren't Stopping Analysts From Hiking Targets

Chris Lange

Published: January 27, 2017 11:35 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 3:26 pm

Since Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) released a mixed fourth-quarter earnings report late Thursday, the markets have not had much of a response and the stock has remained in limbo. Despite this reaction, analysts took a more positive view on the stock, and most raised their targets for this search giant.

24/7 Wall St. has included some highlights from the earnings report, as well as what these analysts said following the earnings report.

The company formerly known as Google reported that it had $9.36 in earnings per share (EPS) and $26.06 billion in revenue. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters called for $9.64 in EPS on revenue of $25.23 billion. The same period of last year reportedly had EPS of $8.67 and $21.33 billion in revenue.

During this quarter, aggregate paid clicks grew by 20% year over year, while the aggregate cost-per-click fell by 9%.

Traffic acquisition costs (TAC) totaled $4.85 billion for the quarter, which was 22% of Google advertising revenues. TAC to Google network members made up 70% of their properties revenues.

A few analysts weighed in on Alphabet:

• Canaccord Genuity raised its price target to $950 from $925.
• Citigroup has a Buy rating and raised the price target to $985 from $975.
• Jefferies reiterated a Buy rating with a $1,000 price target.
• JMP raised the price target from $985 to $1,020.
• Mizuho has a Buy rating and lowered its price target slightly to $1,024 from $1,025.
• Pacific Crest has an Overweight rating and raised the price target to $1,040 from $1,030.
• Pivotal Research Group raised the price target from $960 to $970.
• UBS raised the price target to $980 from $960.
• Independent Research has a Hold rating and raised its price target to $960 from $920.
• Wedbush maintained its Underperform rating with a $700 price target.

Shares of Alphabet were trading at $854.74 on Friday, with a consensus analyst price target of $969.62 and a 52-week trading range of $672.66 to $867.00.