U.S. stocks hit record highs last week as the fragile truce in the Middle East brought the much-needed succor for investors. Specifically, Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL) stock, which briefly fell below $300 levels in March, is now approaching its all-time highs.
In my previous article, I had noted that Alphabet’s risk-reward looked a lot more balanced after the correction, even though it hadn’t entered a compelling buy zone given the macro situation. However, the rise in GOOG stock has been swift, as the tentative de-escalation in the Iran war has buoyed sentiment and lifted broader markets.
That said, Alphabet’s rise is not solely due to the market rally, and there have been several positive developments for the company. Just as OpenAI’s fortunes—or rather, the reversal of them—have been taking a toll on Microsoft (MSFT) stock, Alphabet has been riding the Anthropic wave. Anthropic’s progress in artificial intelligence (AI) has been impressive, and thanks to its soaring valuations, Alphabet’s stake in the company is now over $50 billion.
Separately, filings showed that Alphabet owns over a 6% stake in SpaceX, which could be valued north of $100 billion if the Elon Musk-run company goes public at the kind of valuations that are floating around.
Alphabet has been pushing for third-party sales of its tensor processing unit (TPU), which is pitched as an alternative to Nvidia’s (NVDA) graphics processing units (GPUs). The Google parent’s TPUs are being used by Anthropic, while Meta Platforms (META) is said to have signed a multi-billion-dollar deal to rent these. Alphabet is reportedly in talks with Marvell Technology (MRVL) for two new chips. TPUs could be a significant revenue contributor for Alphabet over the next couple of years.
Alphabet will release its Q1 2026 earnings on April 29 after the close of markets. Analysts expect the company to report revenues of $106.9 billion, a year-over-year (YoY) increase of 18.5%. Its earnings per share (EPS) is, however, expected to fall 6.4%. Notably, Alphabet’s profitability is expected to remain challenged in the coming quarters as its depreciation expenses are set to explode higher on higher AI capex.
