(Reuters) – Alphabet’s shares fell more than 3% in premarket trading on Wednesday after the Google-parent flagged higher expenses due to competition heating up in search and cloud computing.
The company reported capital expenditures of $13 billion in the second quarter ending June. Ruth Porat, in her last conference call as Alphabet’s chief financial officer, told investors that quarterly capital expenditures for the rest of 2024 would be at or above $12 billion.
In the January-March period, Alphabet’s capital expenditure had jumped 91% to $12 billion, spooking investors.
“Alphabet is in the process of durably reengineering its cost base, with a focus on moderating expense growth and reallocating resources towards key AI initiatives,” Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said.
Advertising sales, the company’s chief revenue source, rose 11% to $64.6 billion in the second quarter, fueled by events such as the Paris Olympics and elections in multiple countries, including the United States.
However, revenue from YouTube increased 13% to $8.67 billion, but fell short of Wall Street estimates.
“The ongoing growth in CTV (connected TVs that can access the internet) and long-form digital video ad inventory may be impacting growth at YouTube … we expect the trajectory of the segment will be an area of debate in the coming quarters,” Wedbush analysts said.
On the artificial intelligence front, Google expanded AI-powered summaries in Search and enhanced its Gemini AI model to better compete with rivals such as OpenAI and Microsoft.
J.P.Morgan analysts noted that Google’s Search strength could alleviate concerns about market share and chatbot competition.
At least three brokerages raised their price targets on the stock, following results.
Alphabet’s 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratio stands at 22.2, compared with AI chip firm Nvidia’s 38.6, according to LSEG data.
(Reporting by Khushi Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
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