Alphabet (GOOGL) Stock Up, Testing New Carpooling Service to Compete With Uber
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Alphabet (GOOGL) - Get Report shares are higher 0.3% to $732.48 on Tuesday morning after launching a pilot program in San Francisco where commuters can carpool together through the popular company-owned navigation app Waze.
On Monday, the company unveiled the Waze Rider app in California after initially testing the app in Tel Aviv last July. Through the service, thousands of Bay Area workers could hitch rides to and from work with other local drivers using Waze.
How this works is that the app matches users with a driver who is heading in the same direction. Drivers will then be paid 54 cents a mile. During the pilot, Alphabet noted that it will not take a cut from the fee.
As the multinational conglomerate makes a greater push into the fast-growing ride-sharing market, this carpool service offering is essentially a direct jab at Uber Technologies, the globally dominating ride-sharing service.
While Alphabet and Uber have worked closely together, with Alphabet's Google Ventures pouring in $250 million in Uber in 2013, the two companies have a complicated relationship since they both have big ambitions like building driverless cars and technology, the Wall Street Journal reports.
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Separately, TheStreet Ratings currently has a "Buy" rating on the stock with a letter grade of A-.
The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its compelling growth in net income, revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, solid stock price performance and reasonable valuation levels. Although no company is perfect, currently we do not see any significant weaknesses which are likely to detract from the generally positive outlook.
Recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this article's author.
You can view the full analysis from the report here: GOOGL
