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Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) Gains 1% Ahead of Earnings: What To Expect

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Shares of Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL - Free Report) gained about 1% in morning trading Monday, just hours before the tech giant is set to release its latest quarterly earnings report.

U.S. stocks were down, but GOOGL advanced as investors displayed some excitement in the run-up to today’s earnings announcement. It is possible that while investors may not expect a mind-blowing report, that they are still optimistic that the firm will beat. Either way, Alphabet is an interesting company to watch as it continues to redefine the limits of data and technology.

But what should we expect from its soon-to-be-reported quarter? Let’s take a closer look.

Earnings Outlook

Alphabet will release its Q2 fiscal 2018 results shortly after the market closes today. Here’s what analysts are expecting, according to our Zacks Consensus Estimates:

Earnings: Alphabet is projected to report adjusted earnings of $9.51 per share, which would represent growth of about 90% from the year-ago period.

Estimate Revisions: The firm has seen one negative revision to this quarter’s earnings estimates within the past 30 days. The Zacks Consensus Estimate now sits a penny lower than where it did about a month ago.

Revenue: Consensus estimates have Alphabet’s Q2 revenue pegged at $25.65 billion. This would mark growth of 22.6% year over year.

Valuation

GOOGL is trading at 26.7x forward 12-month earnings heading into today’s report. This is a slight premium compared to the “Computer and Technology” industry’s average of about 20x, but is in line with what we have come to expect from the stock in recent years.

Over the past year, GOOGL has traded as high as 33.8x and as low as 23.4x. Its 52-week median earnings multiple is 26.2x.

Bottom Line

Alphabet shares are up more than 20% over the past year, so some investors may want to realize their gains instead of risking an earnings play. But while earnings estimates have trended downward, growth expectations for the stock are still quite high overall. Investors could be overly bullish, meaning that this is a good time to get out, but the storied firm may still have a lot up its sleeve going into the report.

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