Alphabet Stock Is Trading Lower Wednesday: What's Going On?

Alphabet Inc GOOG shares are trading lower Wednesday on the heels of the company’s fourth-quarter financial results.

What Happened: Alphabet said fourth-quarter revenue increased 13% year-over-year to $86.31 billion, which beat the consensus estimate of $85.33 billion, according to Benzinga Pro. The company reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $1.64 per share, which beat analyst estimates of $1.59 per share.

Google Search revenue totaled $48.02 billion, YouTube advertising revenue came in at $9.2 billion and the Google Cloud business reached $9.192 billion during the quarter.

"We are pleased with the ongoing strength in Search and the growing contribution from YouTube and Cloud. Each of these is already benefiting from our AI investments and innovation. As we enter the Gemini era, the best is yet to come," said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet.

Alphabet provided an update on the workforce reduction it announced in January 2023. The company said it recorded $2.1 billion in employee severance and related charges in 2023 and noted that it's taking actions to optimize its global office space.

Alphabet said it remains committed to durably re-engineering its cost base as the company continues to make investments to support its growth opportunities.

On the conference call following the report, Alphabet noted that it expects capital expenditures to be noticeably larger in 2024, according to Benzinga Pro.

Following the print, Needham analyst Laura Martin reiterated Alphabet with a Buy rating and maintained a price target of $160.

See Also: Microsoft To Rally More Than 16%? Here Are 10 Top Analyst Forecasts For Wednesday

GOOG Price Action: Alphabet shares were down 4.98% at $145.43 at the time of writing, according to Benzinga Pro.

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