Alphabet Stock Is Rallying Wednesday: What's Going On?

Shares of Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG are leading the Nasdaq-100 higher on Wednesday after the company unveiled a major overhaul of its Google search engine during its annual I/O developer conference.

What To Know: CEO Sundar Pichai announced the rollout of a new "AI Mode," offering a conversational, chatbot-style experience akin to OpenAI's ChatGPT. The feature is now live for U.S. users across Search and Chrome.

The update, described as a "total reimagining of search," signals Google’s aggressive push into generative AI. New offerings include the AI Ultra Plan at $249.99/month, Project Mariner for browser automation and Deep Think, a high-level reasoning AI. Despite concerns over cannibalizing ad revenue, analysts remain cautiously optimistic.

JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs reiterated bullish outlooks, citing Alphabet's leadership in AI and faster product rollout. Citizens was more tempered, pointing to regulatory risks and growing competition.

Still, Alphabet's upgrades — like Gemini 2.5, real-time translation and media creation — underscore its long-term AI vision. With AI now central to its ecosystem, Alphabet could be in a better position to defend its Search dominance.

Read Also: Palo Alto Stock Is Facing Selling Pressure Wednesday: What’s Going On?

How To Buy GOOGL Stock

By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Alphabet – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.

Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy “fractional shares,” which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share.

In the case of Alphabet, which is trading at $171.6 as of publishing time, $100 would buy you 0.58 shares of stock.

If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to “go short” a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.

According to data from Benzinga Pro, Google has a 52-week high of $208.70 and a 52-week low of $142.66. Google shares were up 3.44% at $171.01 at the time of publication Wednesday.

Photo: Shutterstock