Alphabet’s Stock Soars After Beating Earnings Expectations and Announcing Dividend

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, saw its stock soar by as much as 13% in after-hours trading on Thursday after delivering a stellar quarter that surpassed revenue and earnings expectations. The tech giant also announced a new cash dividend program of $0.20 per share and approved stock repurchases of up to $70 billion.

CEO Sundar Pichai attributed the strong performance to the company’s success in Search, YouTube, and Cloud services, highlighting Alphabet’s leadership in AI research and infrastructure. The company’s revenue, excluding traffic acquisition costs, came in at $67.59 billion, beating Wall Street’s estimate of $66.07 billion. Adjusted earnings per share were $1.89, surpassing expectations of $1.53.

In the realm of artificial intelligence, Alphabet has been seen as playing catch up to competitors like Microsoft, but executives expressed confidence during the earnings call that the company is well positioned to lead the shift to an AI-centric tech world. Pichai emphasized Alphabet’s commitment to investments that will drive the development of new AI models and monetize breakthroughs through advertising, cloud services, and subscriptions.

Alphabet’s strong performance in the cloud market, where it saw a nearly 30% increase in revenue compared to the same period last year, further solidified its position as a key player in the tech industry. The company’s report comes on the heels of a downbeat forecast from advertising rival Meta, underscoring Alphabet’s success in navigating the evolving tech landscape.