Alphabet (GOOGL), arguably the most powerful tech firm, received a surprise vote of non-confidence recently from noted investor Stanley Druckenmiller. His Duquesne Family Office completely exited its stake in the company in Q1 2025, raising eyebrows among market observers as Alphabet shares bounced almost 9% from recent lows. 

Ignore the billionaire’s departure, however: Google’s stock trades back near $170 — a figure which may portend strength or complacency.

This is occurring as the wider Nasdaq Index ($NASX) is struggling with shifts in artificial intelligence, cloud and advertising dynamics. Some top investors are reducing exposure, but Alphabet remains producing strong margins and shareholder returns. Is Druckenmiller’s action a warning sign — or merely portfolio repositioning?

About Alphabet Stock

Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL) headquartered in Mountain View, California, is a worldwide leader in internet services, digital ads, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence innovation. Alphabet has a market cap of well over $2 trillion and continues to dominate the digital ad space through Google Search and YouTube and rapidly growing Google Cloud and AI offerings such as Gemini.

Alphabet stock has ranged between $142.66 and $208.70 over the previous 52 weeks. The shares now trade near $170, having risen approximately 8% over the past month. Alphabet has lagged behind tech comparables Meta Platforms (META) and Amazon (AMZN) year to date and is behind the broader Nasdaq in 2025. 

Alphabet has a forward price-earnings multiple of 17.96x and a price-sales multiple of 5.9x, metrics that indicate fair valuation for a firm that produces more than $350 billion in yearly sales and $100 billion of annual net income. Alphabet has a margin of 28.6% and a return on equity of 34.6%, both of which indicate healthy profits, yet its valuation remains below peak levels, leaving room for rerating if AI monetization picks up pace.

Alphabet Crushes Q1 Expectations By a Record Margin 

Alphabet reported a strong performance for the first quarter of 2025, at $2.81 a share of earnings per share (EPS), outpacing the $2.02 consensus estimate from Wall Street by a whopping 39.11%, the greatest upside surprise in the four most recent quarters and a clear indication of mounting earnings momentum in Alphabet’s core businesses. It came on the heels of a series of positive, but less impressive, beats in recent quarters: $2.15 vs. $2.12 in Q4 2024 and $2.12 vs. $1.83 in Q3 2024.

The upside came through strong growth in Google Cloud, stable ad revenue growth in both Search and YouTube, and improving operating margins fueled by AI productivity tools in internal teams. 

Looking ahead, analysts see this earnings strength persisting but at a more sustainable rate. For the upcoming quarter through June 2025, the consensus EPS estimate is $2.12, a 12.17% jump from $1.89 a year ago. Through 2025 as a whole, analysts see EPS at $9.47, a 17.79% jump from 2024, and they see EPS rising further to $10.16 in 2026. This path reflects Alphabet’s capacity for sustaining earnings growth even as it invests heavily in AI infrastructure, large language models, and verticalized software solutions.

What Analysts Anticipate for Alphabet Stock

Alphabet has a high level of analyst support, as 53 analysts follow the security and the majority of them assign a “Strong Buy” rating. Druckenmiller’s departure in Q1 might be eye-catching, but the Street has a positive outlook generally on Alphabet’s future growth in AI and cloud. 

Its average price target stands at $200.74, pointing to nearly 18% upside potential. The upside here isn’t about a moonshot, but rather steady performance, great free cash flow, and sustainable growth levers in core businesses.