Alphabet Stock Jumps as Wall Street Raises Targets on Improved Search Position
Alphabet Inc., parent firm of Google, has seen its stock jump in premarket trade after Wall Street analysts raised their targets.
Evercore ISI analyst Mark Mahaney boosted his price objective for Alphabet to $450 from $420, citing new data showing Google's search position has rebounded. The latest poll by Evercore found that 78% of respondents used Google as their preferred search engine in August, up from a low of 70% in 2024 and early 2025.
This improvement is significant because AI-powered search was a major risk investors had worried about. However, Mahaney stated that Google's search leadership has improved over the last year, and he increased his expectations for Google's search revenue through 2028.
Alphabet also benefited from a court verdict on September 16 that fell short of requiring it to divest its ad-tech division. The company was ordered to adjust its advertising tactics and allow monitoring for six years.