Research archive for GOOG

Google has confirmed that it acquired Israeli cybersecurity startup Siemplify in an effort to add security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) capabilities to its cloud business. The transaction will set Google back by $500 million which is a blip in the ocean for a company with over $169 billion in cash.

Alphabet's market cap crossed the $2 trillion mark for the first time yesterday, joining Apple and Microsoft in this exclusive club. I have to mention that all three companies are part of the Vestact model portfolio. What's even more mind-blowing is that Alphabet only hit the $1 trillion mark in January last year, making it the fastest to go from $1 trillion to $2 trillion.

Last night Alphabet, the parent company of Google, Android and Youtube released third-quarter results. As expected, the numbers were impressive. Revenues came in at $65 billion, 41% higher than this time last year. Net income came in at $19 billion, up 68% versus the comparative period. Wow!

Yesterday, Google Cloud announced a new feature that provides its users with custom carbon footprint tracking, to track the emissions their cloud usage generates. This is the first step towards being carbon-free, a goal that Google Cloud has set to achieve in the next decade.

The big tech companies are the largest and most profitable businesses around at the moment. It means that they are easy targets for lawyers and regulators. If lawyers can get even the smallest allegation to stick, it could result in large and very public fines. Currently all of these companies are involved in numerous court cases around the world.

After the market closed last night, Google (also known as Alphabet), reported its second-quarter numbers. The street had high expectations for the company, but those were easily surpassed as Google posted its fourth consecutive quarter of record profits. The stock is up another 3% in after-hours trade.

We often talk about how massive companies compete against each other. But leading tech giants also do a lot business together. Did you know that Apple is Google Cloud's biggest client? When you pay Apple a monthly iCloud fee for your data storage, you are actually using Google.

On Tuesday, Alphabet (Google) released blockbuster first quarter numbers. Revenues shot up 34% to $55.3 billion. The biggest rise was from advertising revenues which increased from $33.8 billion to $44.7 billion year-on-year, the fastest growth in four years!

Over the last two weeks, education companies Advtech and Curro both released okay looking numbers. Nursery school divisions have been weak because there is no legal requirement to send a child to nursery school. Both groups successfully launched digital-only schools. Online learning is becoming the new norm, so it makes sense to have digital-only schools. Not having to build and maintain a physical campus is a huge saving!

Taking a cut on app store transactions has become a controversial topic after the big rift between Apple and Epic Games. Apple App Store and Google Play (Android) are the top 2 players in that world. Their argument is that they created the platforms, meaning they should get their pound of flesh for every purchase. Makes sense. The problem for the developers is that the pound of flesh is currently 30%. Is that too high? Maybe.

I have run out of words to describe what a good investment owning shares in Google has been. Yes, really. This company is amazing. They were out with quarterly results again on Tuesday night and they really delivered superlative numbers. The stock price went up 10% at one point on Wednesday. They now trade above $2 000 a share.

Alphabet/ Google was one of the many tech companies to report on Thursday night. Thanks to a strong beat on expectations, the stock managed to close up 3.8% - good going consider the overall beating that the Nasdaq took on Friday. Google reported revenue of $46bn and EPS of $16.20, analysts were only expecting $43bn and $11.18, respectively.

We have covered Facebook's ambitions to become an online retailer in detail. It turns out that another massive tech brand has similar ambitions. According to Bloomberg Google plans to Make YouTube a Major Shopping Destination.

Google is well ahead of other big multinationals when it comes to their carbon footprint. In fact they became carbon neutral all the way back in 2007 - an amazing achievement! But remember they are a platform so it is slightly easier to become carbon neutral then say a manufacturing company.

Yesterday Google announced that it will invest $450 million into security firm ADT. Remember that Google owns the smart home device business Nest. This collaboration will try to kick start that business which has been a disappointment so far.