Despite a focus on AI spending, online advertising is a major contributor to Big Tech's growth.
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Source: CNBC
Updated: Nov 01 20250mins
Strong Growth in Digital Advertising: Major tech companies like Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft reported significant increases in their digital advertising revenues, with Meta leading at a 26% year-over-year growth, indicating resilience in the ad market despite economic uncertainties.
AI Investments and Economic Concerns: Despite concerns about economic instability, these companies are not reducing their AI spending, collectively expecting over $380 billion in capital expenditures this year, although Meta's stock faced a decline due to uncertainties about the returns on its AI investments.
Shifts in Advertising Budgets: Analysts suggest that companies may be reallocating their advertising budgets from traditional media to digital platforms, as evidenced by Reddit's impressive 68% sales growth, highlighting a broader trend in the advertising landscape.
Future Outlook and Consumer Spending: With the holiday season approaching, there are concerns about how economic factors might affect consumer spending and corporate marketing campaigns, making upcoming sales figures, particularly during Black Friday, a critical indicator for the advertising market.
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Analyst Views on GOOG
Wall Street analysts forecast GOOG stock price to fall over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for GOOG is 313.25 USD with a low forecast of 255.00 USD and a high forecast of 350.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
15 Analyst Rating
14 Buy
1 Hold
0 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 322.090
Low
255.00
Averages
313.25
High
350.00
Current: 322.090
Low
255.00
Averages
313.25
High
350.00
BNP Paribas Exane
Nick Jones
Outperform
initiated
$355
2025-11-24
Reason
BNP Paribas Exane
Nick Jones
Price Target
$355
2025-11-24
initiated
Outperform
Reason
BNP Paribas Exane analyst Nick Jones initiated coverage of Alphabet with an Outperform rating and $355 price target.
Truist
Youssef Squali
Hold
maintain
$10 -> $11
2025-11-06
Reason
Truist
Youssef Squali
Price Target
$10 -> $11
2025-11-06
maintain
Hold
Reason
Truist analyst Youssef Squali raised the firm's price target on Snap (SNAP) to $11 from $10 and keeps a Hold rating on the shares. Q3 results and the Q4 outlook both show relatively in line revenue and stronger than expected AEBITDA, the analyst tells investors. New, higher margin revenue streams, such as the Perplexity deal, should be accretive to margins in 2026, but Snap "remains a share giver" to peers including Meta (META), Google (GOOGL) and Reddit (RDDT), the analyst added.
Goldman Sachs
Eric Sheridan
Buy
maintain
$288 -> $330
2025-10-31
Reason
Goldman Sachs
Eric Sheridan
Price Target
$288 -> $330
2025-10-31
maintain
Buy
Reason
Goldman Sachs analyst Eric Sheridan raised the firm's price target on Alphabet to $330 from $288 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares.
Needham
Buy
maintain
$260 -> $330
2025-10-30
Reason
Needham
Price Target
$260 -> $330
2025-10-30
maintain
Buy
Reason
Needham raised the firm's price target on Alphabet to $330 from $260 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The company reported "strong" Q3 as Search revenue grew 15%, Cloud grew 34%, and YouTube grew 15% y/y, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Alphabet's full-stack GenAI go-to-market gives it pricing power through differentiation, which is driving revenue upside and margin expansion, the firm added.
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About GOOG
Alphabet Inc. is a holding company. The Company's segments include Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets. The Google Services segment includes products and services such as ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Google Maps, Google Play, Search, and YouTube. The Google Cloud segment includes infrastructure and platform services, collaboration tools, and other services for enterprise customers. Its Other Bets segment is engaged in the sale of healthcare-related services and Internet services. Its Google Cloud provides enterprise-ready cloud services, including Google Cloud Platform and Google Workspace. Google Cloud Platform provides access to solutions such as artificial intelligence (AI) offerings, including its AI infrastructure, Vertex AI platform, and Gemini for Google Cloud; cybersecurity, and data and analytics. Google Workspace includes cloud-based communication and collaboration tools for enterprises, such as Calendar, Gmail, Docs, Drive, and Meet.
About the author
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Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
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