Key Highlights
- GOOGL shares gained more than 2% in premarket hours on Friday after rising 1.3% during the previous trading day.
- The autonomous vehicle unit Waymo revealed intentions to begin driverless taxi operations in Singapore by 2028, marking its debut in Southeast Asia.
- A federal court imposed six years of behavioral conditions on Google in its ad tech antitrust matter but declined to mandate a business division.
- Tigress Financial Partners upgraded its GOOGL price target from $415 to $485, highlighting AI momentum in Search, Cloud, and YouTube segments.
- Analysts maintain a Strong Buy rating consensus on GOOGL, with an average target price of $429.31, suggesting 23.6% potential upside.
Shares of Alphabet (GOOGL) are changing hands at $347.33, climbing more than 2% during Friday’s premarket session on September 18. This advance comes after the stock posted a 1.3% increase in the prior trading day.
The premarket rally stems from two significant developments: Waymo’s international expansion announcement and reduced uncertainty surrounding the company’s antitrust litigation.
On September 18, Waymo disclosed its intention to introduce autonomous ride-hailing services in Singapore starting in 2028. The company will deploy electric Jaguar I-PACE SUVs for this operation.
During 2027, Waymo intends to conduct extensive road mapping throughout Singapore and test its autonomous technology under local driving conditions, which include monsoon seasons. The company has not yet specified the initial fleet size.
This Singapore deployment represents Waymo’s inaugural venture into Southeast Asian markets. The move provides the Alphabet subsidiary with exposure to new consumers and valuable autonomous driving data from outside North America.
Court Decision Alleviates Key Investor Concern
Earlier this week, a U.S. court delivered its ruling in Google’s ad tech antitrust litigation. The judgment imposed behavioral constraints spanning six years and mandated internal compliance oversight.
Importantly, the court stopped short of requiring Google to divest or separate its AdX operations. This decision eliminated a significant uncertainty that investors had been monitoring, likely contributing to reduced selling pressure on the shares.
Since the beginning of this year, GOOGL has appreciated 11%. After reaching a 52-week peak of $408.61 in mid-May, shares declined alongside broader technology sector weakness.
During Q2 2026, Alphabet disclosed total advertising revenue of $81.63 billion, representing a 14.5% year-over-year increase. Google Cloud revenue surged 82% to $24.77 billion during the same quarter.
Trailing twelve-month revenue totaled $445.87 billion, reflecting 20% growth. The company’s return on equity currently stands at 50%, while shares trade at a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.38.
Tigress Financial Elevates Target to $485
On September 17, Tigress Financial Partners increased its GOOGL price objective from $415 to $485, maintaining its Strong Buy recommendation.
The investment firm emphasized Alphabet’s artificial intelligence capabilities as the core catalyst, with Gemini models, TPU infrastructure, and AI-powered services generating fresh revenue streams throughout Search, Cloud, and YouTube platforms.
Tigress acknowledged that Alphabet’s current AI infrastructure investments temporarily reduce capital efficiency metrics, but position the enterprise for enhanced profitability over the longer term.
The firm also drew attention to Alphabet’s financial strength, observing that the company maintains net cash on its balance sheet. GOOGL continues to appear on Tigress Financial’s Research Focus List and Focus Opportunity Portfolio.
Analyst sentiment remains overwhelmingly positive. With 25 Buy recommendations and four Hold ratings issued during the last three months, GOOGL maintains a Strong Buy consensus rating. The mean price objective of $429.31 indicates 23.6% potential appreciation from present levels.
Over the trailing three months, GOOGL shares have averaged approximately 23.3 million in daily trading volume.
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