Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, attends the inauguration of a new hub in France dedicated to the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, at the Google France headquarters in Paris, France, Feb. 15, 2024.
Gonzalo Fuentes | Reuters
Google parent company Alphabet is set to report its fourth-quarter results after the bell Tuesday.
Here are the numbers Wall Street will be watching:
- Revenue: $96.56 billion expected by LSEG
- Earnings per share: $2.13 expected by LSEG
Here are additional estimates expected, according to StreetAccount:
- YouTube advertising revenue: $10.23 billion
- Google Cloud revenue: $12.19 billion
- Traffic acquisition costs (TAC): $15.01 billion
Wall Street will be looking for Alphabet to report 11% revenue growth following a pressure-filled year that included AI announcements, product mishaps and regulatory litigation.
Alphabet made a series of announcements in the fourth quarter related to Waymo, showing confidence in its ability to commercialize its self-driving car company more quickly.
Waymo’s robotaxi service now operates in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix, covering more than 500 square miles of public roads. In December, the company said it plans to launch its commercial service in Austin, Texas, and through the Uber app in Austin and Atlanta in 2025. The company also announced that it will begin testing Waymo in Tokyo, its first international expansion.
During the third-quarter, new CFO Anat Ashkenazi said she wanted to “push a little further” with cost savings across the company as Google expands its spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure in 2025. Employees pressed executives for details on cost cuts in December, and in January, they began circulating an internal petition titled “job security,” CNBC reported.
Ahead of expected cuts, Google last week began offering buyouts to U.S. employees in its “Platforms and Devices” unit. That unit includes more than 25,000 full-time employees who work on Android, Chrome, ChromeOS, Google Photos, Google One, Pixel, Fitbit and Nest.
Alphabet also continued to face antitrust litigation during the fourth quarter.
The Department of Justice in November called for Google to divest its Chrome browser, following an August ruling that the company holds a monopoly in the search market. The DOJ said in a filing that forcing the company to get rid of Chrome — essentially, breaking up the company — would create a more equal playing field for search competitors.
Google executives held a 2025 strategy meeting with employees in December, setting the stage for a year of expected increase in competition, regulatory hurdles and advancements in AI.
“It’s really important we internalize the urgency of this moment, and need to move faster as a company,” CEO Sundar Pichai said. “The stakes are high.”
In January, Alphabet shares closed at $200 per share for the first time as investors grow increasingly bullish on the company’s opportunities in AI, but after the emergence of DeepSeek last month, Wall Street will await any commentary from management about how the Chinese entrant could impact its AI strategy.
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