What’s Going On Here?Alphabet, the parent company of Google, lost its way late on Monday: it reported a worse-than-expected profit, and its stock initially fell 2%. What Does This Mean?Though Alphabet’s overall revenue didn’t disappoint, part of its all-important advertising business did: clicks on ads across Google’s properties (think YouTube, the Google Play store, and, of course, Google.com) grew by half as much as analysts had predicted. Between that and some hefty fines it paid off last quarter, profit came up short. That’ll likely worry investors, who might now treat April’s revenue miss as the start of a downward trend.
Investors might be hoping other revenue sources will point Alphabet in the right direction. Cloud computing could be the answer, but growth has been slowing with increased competition from Amazon and Microsoft. Instead, Alphabet might have better luck with new hardware ventures: it’s reportedly made an offer to buy the billion-dollar fitness tracker company Fitbit – causing the latter’s shares to sprint upwards Monday. Why Should I Care?For markets: All change, please.
Alphabet’s update might push investors further away from fast-growing companies’ shares – i.e. “growth” stocks – and towards relatively cheap, overlooked “value” stocks (tweet this). On Monday, investment bank Morgan Stanley branded growth stocks overpriced, and warned their prices might not rise much as investors search for bargains.
For you personally: More to life than money.
On Friday, Microsoft secured a hotly contested $10 billion cloud computing deal with the US Defense Department. Alphabet – which withdrew from contention because its employees thought military collaboration conflicted with the company’s values – might now be kicking itself. It's a reminder to keep tabs on your investments if you’re building a “socially responsible” portfolio. Microsoft might’ve won the lucrative contract, but it might now see its currently high environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ranking start to fall. |
