Alphabet Price Targets Lifted on Stronger-Than-Expected Earnings

Alphabet  (GOOGL) - Get Report shares on Friday rose sharply as analysts offered positive commentary on the tech titan's stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings.

Revenue climbed 14% from a year earlier, after slumping in the second quarter for the first time in the company’s history.

Alphabet shares recently traded at $1,671.40, up 6.7%. They'd gained 17% year to date through Thursday.

Alphabet Rises as Q3 Profit and Revenue Beat Estimates

Jefferies analyst Brent Thill lifted his share-price target to $2,000 from $1,850, affirming his rating at buy.

Alphabet’s earnings represent the “biggest upside surprise” of the many huge technology companies that have reported in recent days, he said in a commentary cited by Bloomberg. 

Thill was impressed with the ad-revenue gain and the strength in cloud services. He sees the stock as cheap.

Guggenheim analyst Michael Morris also raised his share-price target to $2,000 from $1,850. Alphabet’s varied operations and focus on “high-utility, trusted experiences” will help the stock, he said in a commentary cited by Bloomberg.

KeyBanc analyst Justin Patterson increased his share-price target to $1,970 from $1,955, maintaining his rating at overweight.

“Digital acceleration is driving strong growth at search, YouTube, and Google cloud,” he wrote in a commentary. “This causes us to raise 2020 and 2021 estimated revenue by 3% and 2%.” 

In addition, “Google cloud disclosures in fourth-quarter 2020 will drive increased focus on sum-of-the-parts value.”

BMO analyst Daniel Salmon boosted his share-price target to $1,950 from $1,900.

Alphabet’s strength in the search category widened profit margins, he said in a commentary cited by Bloomberg. 

He also noted the advertising results. Investors were “overly negative” ahead of the report, Salmon said.