Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Google Buys Office Park in Mountain View, Continues Expansion

Read MoreHide Full Article

Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOGL - Free Report) Google has been gobbling up properties and rapidly expanding its footprint in Mountain View.

The tech behemoth paid $1 billion to buy a 51.8-acre large business park with 12 buildings in Mountain View, CA, making it the largest real estate purchase so far in 2018 in the Bay Area.

The most recent purchase is in line with the company’s strategy of actively snapping up properties in Silicon Valley. Such prime asset buyouts should definitely enhance its overall asset quality and help it carry on with its new growth initiatives.

Coming to price performance, Alphabet’s shares have lost 0.8% on a year-to-date basis compared with the industry’s decline of 25.7%.

 

 

Property Buying Spree Continues

Over the past few years, the company has spent at least $2.83 billion in property acquisitions in Mountain View, Sunnyvale, downtown San Jose and north San Jose alone.

Earlier this month, Google had agreed to pay $110 million to buy more than 10 acres from the city of San Jose, as part of its expansion plans. The company also bought the Chesapeake Commons office park in Sunnyvale earlier this year.

Google has not kept its eyes only on Silicon Valley. In fact, it has been making purchases outside of Silicon Valley. Earlier this year, the company spent $2.4 billion to buy New York City's Chelsea Market.

Sustainability and Innovation in Focus

Google is emphasizing on fostering a sense of community, as well as mirroring its culture of innovation through bold infrastructure and architecture.

It appears that with the new office space, Google is trying to build a highly flexible workplace, which will be capable of adapting to changing business needs on one hand and serving local communities on the other.

The company’s expansion plans are a reminder that Silicon Valley-based tech giants are striving to build more impressive and futuristic office spaces.

Alphabet Inc. Price and Consensus

 

Alphabet Inc. Price and Consensus | Alphabet Inc. Quote

Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider

Currently, Alphabet carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the broader technology sector include boohoo group plc (BHOOY - Free Report) , QuinStreet, Inc. (QNST - Free Report) and AMETEK, Inc. (AME - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Long-term earnings growth rate for boohoo group, QuinStreet and AMETEK is currently pegged at 25%, 25% and 11.18%, respectively.

The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All                 

Last year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce ""the world's first trillionaires,"" but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early.

See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >>

Published in