Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) is a multinational technology conglomerate. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Alphabet serves as the parent company of Google and several other businesses in areas like cloud computing, autonomous vehicles, life sciences, and venture capital. Alphabet’s market cap stands at around $3.9 trillion, making it one of the most valuable companies in the world.

Companies valued above $200 billion are typically classified as “mega-cap stocks,” and Alphabet easily falls into that category, with a market cap far beyond this mark, underscoring its immense scale, influence, and leadership in the internet content and information industry. 

Shares of Alphabet are just marginally down from its 52-week high of $328.22, achieved today as of writing. Shares of Alphabet gained 57.3% over the past three months, outpacing the S&P 500 Index’s ($SPX) 4% surge during the same time frame.

In the longer term, shares of Alphabet rose 73.3% on a YTD basis and climbed 95.7% over the past 52 weeks, outperforming SPX’s YTD gains of 13.8% and an 11.8% return over the past year.

To confirm the bullish trend, GOOGL stock is trading above the 50-day moving average since late May and above its 200-day moving average since June. 

Over the past year, GOOGL stock has climbed strongly thanks to renewed earnings momentum, particularly from its ad business and cloud segment, and aggressive investments in artificial intelligence (AI). The company is pouring capital into data centers and custom chips, betting big on AI infrastructure, which has bolstered investor confidence about its long-term growth potential. Meanwhile, its core ad business, including Search and YouTube, continues to perform strongly.

In the competitive arena, Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) has underperformed Alphabet, with a 4.7% uptick on a YTD basis and a 9.6% gain over the past 52 weeks.

Wall Street analysts are highly bullish on Alphabet’s prospects. The stock has a consensus “Strong Buy” rating from the 55 analysts covering it, and the stock is currently trading above its mean price target of $319.43.

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