Alphabet (GOOGL) Sinks After Q3 Miss, Analyst Sees Further Downside Risks

Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) shares are down over 6% in pre-market Wednesday trading after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q3 results.

Google's parent company reported an EPS of $1.06 on revenue of $69.09 billion, resulting in a miss as analysts were looking for an EPS of $1.28 on revenue of $71.34 billion. Google Cloud generated $6.87 in Q3 revenue, while the company’s core business - Google Services - generated $61.38 billion.

“Our third quarter revenues were $69.1 billion, up 6% versus last year or up 11% on a constant currency basis. Financial results for the third quarter reflect healthy fundamental growth in Search and momentum in Cloud, while affected by foreign exchange. We’re working to realign resources to fuel our highest growth priorities," said Ruth Porat, CFO of Alphabet and Google.

Google Cloud revenue came in at $6.87 billion, while Google Services revenue was $61.38 billion. Analysts were looking for $6.69 billion and $63.75 billion, respectively. YouTube ads revenue in the quarter was $7.07 billion, down relative to the $7.44 billion consensus.

Google said its total headcount number increased to 186,779 from 150,028 in Q3 2021. In Q3, Google added over 10,000 new employees. CFO Porat said new hiring will “slow to less than half the number added in Q3” as the company focuses on “hiring for critical roles, particularly focused on top engineering and technical talent.”

"We are focused on both investing responsibly for the long term and being responsive to the economic environment," added Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google.

Goldman Sachs analyst Eric Sheridan lowered the price target to $135 per share from $146 to reflect weaker-than-expected results.

“In our view, a mixture of investments toward long-term growth opportunities, shareholder returns (via buybacks) and increasing operating efficiencies are likely going to be the key driver of share price performance in the years ahead. In particular, the trajectory for Google Services operating margins in 2023 & beyond (driven by the inputs laid out by management) will likely be critical to understand the compounded returns for GOOGL shares,” Sheridan said in a client note.

Mizuho analyst James Lee also lowered the price target as he went to $140 from $150 to reflect macro and FX headwinds. The analyst sees Google being forced to cut more costs in 2023 to offset slower growth.

“We continue to see margin risks in the near-term. At the same time, we see downside risks for advertising and cloud revenue growth for FY23. While we remain Buy-rated and constructive on Google longer-term, we expect some near-term volatility until the company lays out its opex plans to mitigate headwinds,” Lee wrote to clients.

By Senad Karaahmetovic

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