Alphabet (Class A)
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Alphabet Inc. is an American multinational technology conglomerate holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, revision of 1 Nov 2026.
What stands out
- Sales have grown about 17.2% a year for five years, so each $1 of sales in FY2020 is about $2.21 now.Revenue growth over 5–10 years: +17.2% a year
- Alphabet kept about 32 cents of operating profit from each $1 of sales in FY2025.Operating margin (operating income ÷ revenue): 32.0%
- Alphabet has earned more on its money than that money costs, in 5 of the last 5 years.Return on invested capital (ROIC); ROE for banks: 44.1% ROIC
Worth digging into
- For every $1 of reported profit over 5 years, about $0.77 turned up as spare cash.Free cash flow (operating cash flow − capex), and FCF ÷ net income: $73.3B
- Price more than 50% above the valuation sheet's middle valuePrice +86% against the sheet's default story, 16 Oct 2026
- More than 30% below its 52-week high−31.5% from the 52-week high
From filed figures and the weekly screener snapshot, 30 Oct 2026. Observations to check in the tabs below, not advice.
What has the price done?
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Press and drag across the chart to see the change between two points. Source: Yahoo Finance, delayed. Bars are daily and prices are adjusted for splits, not dividends. Past returns don't predict future returns.
Dividends
Full chart
TradingView's advanced chart, with indicators and drawing tools. It loads when you scroll to it.
How does it make money?
What it does
Alphabet reports 3 businesses. In FY2025, Google Services brought in 85%, Google Cloud brought in 15% and Other Bets brought in 0% of revenue.
By product, the biggest seller is search and other at 56% of revenue, then Google Cloud at 15%.
By region, United States made up 48%, then Europe, Middle East and Africa at 29%.
From Alphabet Inc. (SEC EDGAR), Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 Dec 2025.
Where the revenue comes from
- Google Services85%
- Google Cloud15%
- Other Bets<1%
Shares of revenue, FY2025. "Other" includes hedging gains (losses). Source: Alphabet Inc. (SEC EDGAR), Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 Dec 2025.
How it makes money
Where Alphabet's FY2025 revenue came from, what it cost to earn, and what was left for shareholders.
- Income
- Costs and tax
- Profit
- % = share of revenue
Source: Alphabet Inc. (SEC EDGAR), Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 Dec 2025 (5 Feb 2026), statement of income, Notes 2 and 15. FY2025 is the year to 31 Dec 2025. Figures as reported, in US$ millions in the tooltips and table.
Technical: gross margin was 59.7%, operating margin 32.0% and net margin 32.8%. Operating costs and cost of revenue together took 68.0% of revenue.
Plain: of every dollar of sales, about 40 cents paid for making or delivering what was sold, about 28 cents went on running and growing the business, and about 33 cents ended up as profit for shareholders.
Revenue by product
Hedging gains (losses): −US$127M, reported outside the slices above.
Revenue by business
Hedging gains (losses): −US$127M, reported outside the slices above.
Revenue by region
Hedging gains (losses): −US$127M, reported outside the slices above.
See the numbers
| FY2025 | US$M | % of revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 402,836 | 100.0% |
| Cost of revenue | −162,535 | 40.3% |
| Gross profit | 240,301 | 59.7% |
| Research and development | −61,087 | 15.2% |
| Sales and marketing | −28,693 | 7.1% |
| General and administrative | −21,482 | 5.3% |
| Operating income | 129,039 | 32.0% |
| Other income (expense), net | 29,787 | 7.4% |
| Profit before tax | 158,826 | 39.4% |
| Income tax | −26,656 | 6.6% |
| Net profit to shareholders | 132,170 | 32.8% |
- Gross profit is revenue less cost of revenue. Alphabet doesn't report the subtotal itself.
- Other income, net was US$29,787M, 19% of profit before tax. Note 7 of the 10-K breaks it down.
- Segment operating income leaves out US$16,760M of Alphabet-level costs, which Alphabet says mainly reflect its shared AI research and development.
History and context
Alphabet Inc. is an American multinational technology conglomerate holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. It was created through a restructuring of Google on October 2, 2015, and became the parent holding company of Google and several former Google subsidiaries. Alphabet is listed on the large-cap section of the Nasdaq under the ticker symbols GOOGL and GOOG; both classes of stock are components of major stock market indices such as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100. Alphabet has been described as a Big Tech company. As of July 2026, it is the third largest publicly traded company in the world by market capitalization.
The establishment of Alphabet Inc. was prompted by a desire to make the core Google business "cleaner and more accountable" while allowing greater autonomy to group companies that operate in businesses other than Internet services. Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin announced their resignation from their executive posts in December 2019, with the CEO role to be filled by Sundar Pichai, who is also the CEO of Google. Page and Brin remain employees, board members, and controlling shareholders of Alphabet Inc.
From Wikipedia's article Alphabet Inc., the lead section as of the revision of 1 Nov 2026, retrieved 1 Nov 2026. Text under CC BY-SA 4.0, pronunciation guides removed. Wikipedia can be edited by anyone; the company's own filings are the primary source.
What it actually sells Soon
A product-by-product guide to Alphabet: what each one is, who buys it, and how much it brings in, in plain English and in the company's own terms. We're starting with the companies that are hardest to picture, like Broadcom.
Moat rating
Wide moat
8.8 / 10
ROIC averaged 51.2% over FY2021 to FY2025, 40.5 percentage points above a 10.66% cost of capital, and beat it in every year.
Alphabet earns around five times what its capital costs, year after year.
The numbers
10.0 / 10Return on invested capital against cost of capital, internet software
- Average ROIC
- 51.2%
- Average excess return
- +40.5 pp
- Years above the hurdle
- 5 of 5
Spread 10 × 60% + durability 10 × 40% = 10.0
The sources
7.6 / 10Where Alphabet's advantage comes from
- 1. Brand and pricing power7 / 10
Search and other brought in US$224.5B in 2025, 56% of revenue, and Alphabet's operating margin was 32.0%.
Advertisers pay to reach people at the moment they search, and that still brings in more than half of Alphabet's revenue.
- 2. Barriers to entry8 / 10
Research and development of US$61.1B in 2025. Alphabet-level costs, mainly shared AI research, were a further US$16.8B outside its segments.
Matching Google's search, maps and AI means spending tens of billions a year for years before earning much back.
- 3. Switching costs5 / 10
Changing a search engine or browser default takes a few clicks. Google Cloud, with US$58.7B of revenue in 2025, is stickier: its customers face real costs to move.
Anyone can try another search engine today. Habit, not cost, keeps most people on Google.
- 4. Network effects9 / 10
YouTube ads (US$40.4B) and Google Network (US$29.8B) connect advertisers with audiences: more viewers and creators attract more advertisers, which funds more creators.
Creators go where the viewers are, viewers go where the creators are, and advertisers follow both.
- 5. Economies of scale9 / 10
Revenue of US$402.8B in 2025. Google Cloud made US$13.9B of operating income.
Google spreads the cost of its data centres and AI models over billions of users and millions of advertisers.
Return on invested capital: Alphabet Inc. (SEC EDGAR), Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 Dec 2021; Alphabet Inc. (SEC EDGAR), Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 Dec 2022; Alphabet Inc. (SEC EDGAR), Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 Dec 2023; Alphabet Inc. (SEC EDGAR), Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 Dec 2024; Alphabet Inc. (SEC EDGAR), Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 Dec 2025. Hurdle: Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern, Cost of capital by sector (US), data as of January 2026. Our choice of industry. Damodaran's advertising group has a lower 7.81%, so this is the tougher test.
How we worked out ROIC: operating income after tax, divided by the capital invested at the start of the year. Tax is at the year's effective rate, or the 21% US federal rate where a pre-tax loss or a tax credit makes the effective rate meaningless. Invested capital is shareholders' equity plus borrowings, less cash and short-term investments, from the opening balance sheet in the same 10-K; lease liabilities are left out. This follows Damodaran's definition. The ratios are our calculation from the filed figures, not numbers the company reports.
Lens scores are rasinbun's judgment, reviewed 19 Oct 2026. A wide moat is a reason to dig deeper, not a verdict on the price. For education only. Not financial advice.
How we rate moats ›Is it a good business at a fair price?
What each method implies
Ranges, not targetsThe five questions, and the price
Six checks from the annual reports. A flag marks a reason to dig deeper, not a verdict.
- 1. Is it growing?Within the guide
+17.2% a year
Revenue growth over 5–10 years
Revenue $182.5B in FY2020 to $402.8B in FY2025; +18.3% a year over 10 years. It fell in 0 of the last 5 years.
Sales have grown about 17.2% a year for five years, so each $1 of sales in FY2020 is about $2.21 now.
What to look for Steady growth, not one lucky year.
Source: FY2020 10-K, filed 3 Feb 2021; FY2025 10-K, filed 5 Feb 2026.
- 2. Is it profitable?Within the guide
32.0%
Operating margin (operating income ÷ revenue)
FY2025 operating margin. 5-year average 29.7%, range 26.5% to 32.1%.
Alphabet kept about 32 cents of operating profit from each $1 of sales in FY2025.
What to look for Stable or rising. It's cleaner than net income, which one-off items and tax can distort.
Source: FY2025 10-K, filed 5 Feb 2026.
- 3. Is the profit real cash?Reason to dig deeper
$73.3B
Free cash flow (operating cash flow − capex), and FCF ÷ net income
FY2025 free cash flow: operating cash flow $164.7B less capex $91.4B. Over 5 years FCF was 77% of net income.
For every $1 of reported profit over 5 years, about $0.77 turned up as spare cash.
What to look for FCF positive and growing, and close to net income over time.
Source: FY2025 10-K, filed 5 Feb 2026.
- 4. Is it a good business?Within the guide
44.1% ROIC
Return on invested capital (ROIC); ROE for banks
FY2025 ROIC. 5-year average 51.2% against a 10.66% cost of capital, internet software; above it in 5 of 5 years.
Alphabet has earned more on its money than that money costs, in 5 of the last 5 years.
What to look for Clearly above the cost of capital (roughly 8–10%). Sustained 15%+ usually means a moat.
Source: Our moat rating, Moat tab; Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern, January 2026.
- 5. Can it survive a bad year?Within the guide
Net cash $77.8B
Net debt ÷ EBITDA or ÷ FCF, plus interest cover
FY2025 year end: borrowings $49.1B, cash and short-term investments $126.8B. Operating income covers interest 175.3x.
Alphabet holds more cash than it owes, so it could pay off its borrowings today.
What to look for Debt payable from about 3 years of FCF or less, interest covered many times.
Source: FY2025 10-K, filed 5 Feb 2026.
- 6. Is the price right?
2.1% FCF yield
FCF yield or EV/EBIT, and price against a cash-flow value
Market cap $3.4T. FCF yield 2.1% on FY2025 free cash flow. EV/EBIT 26.0x on FY2025 operating income. The valuation sheet's default story values it at US$141.32–US$235.26 a share (middle US$183.12); at US$340.59, its 16 Oct 2026 price, the price is +86.0% against the middle.
At this price, each $100 of shares comes with about $2.13 of last year's spare cash. On the sheet's default story the price sits above the middle of its value range, by 86%. Change the story and that moves.
What to look for Pay less than a cash-flow value estimate, with a margin of safety.
Source: Price $279.84, Yahoo Finance weekly snapshot, 30 Oct 2026; 12,274M shares, 10-Q 30 Jun 2026; FY2025 10-K, filed 5 Feb 2026; Stock valuation, 16 Oct 2026.
US figures: each company's Form 10-K as tagged on SEC EDGAR, collected 19 Oct 2026. Free cash flow is operating cash flow less purchases of property and equipment. Borrowings exclude leases. For education only. Not financial advice.
Ten years of financials
FY2016 to FY2025, in US dollars.
Source: Alphabet (Class A), Form 10-K for each year as first filed, via SEC EDGAR XBRL. Latest: FY2025 10-K, filed 5 Feb 2026. Later restatements aren't applied.
How peers compare
Big tech platformsThe platforms are compared on growth, margins and how much of revenue turns into free cash once the capex bill is paid.
| Company | Revenue growth, 5y | Operating margin | FCF margin | P/E |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GOOGL | +17.2% a year | 32.0% | 18.2% | 25.9x |
| AAPL | +8.7% a year | 32.0% | 23.7% | 46.2x |
| MSFT | +14.6% a year | 46.8% | 20.2% | 29.1x |
| META | +18.5% a year | 41.4% | 22.9% | 26.2x |
| AMZN | +13.2% a year | 11.2% | 1.1% | 33.5x |
- Peers' middle-half P/E
- 28.4x–36.7x (median 31.3x, 4 peers)
At the peers' middle-half P/E, Alphabet's earnings per share from the FY2025 10-K would put the share between $306 and $397. Those are the peer bars in the valuation chart above — one way to read the price, not a target.
Prices: weekly screener snapshot, 30 Oct 2026. Profits: each company's latest annual filing via SEC EDGAR, as filed. Peers are hand-picked for this industry. A multiple compares one year's profit with today's price; it says nothing about what either does next.
Discounted cash flow, from Stock valuation
Ten years of free cash flow to the firm, from Alphabet's latest figures and Damodaran's industry averages (Software (Internet)). It's one story told with numbers, so it comes as a range.
- Value range, the default story$141.32–$235.26Middle $183.12 a share
- Price, 16 Oct 2026 close$340.59+86.00% ▲ against the middle
- What the price implies21.7% a yearGrowth in years 2–5 that makes value equal the price; the story uses 10.0%
To be worth today's price, Alphabet would need to grow sales about 21.7% a year in years 2–5. One way to read this is to ask whether that sounds believable.
The story's assumptions
- Revenue, last 12 months
- $445,866M
- Operating margin now
- 33.1%
- Revenue growth, year 1
- 24.5%
- Revenue growth, years 2–5
- 10.0%
- Growth after year 10
- 5.1%
- Target operating margin, by year 5
- 33.1%
- Sales to capital, years 1–5 / 6–10
- 1.35 / 1.35
- Tax rate now / after year 10
- 18.4% / 25.0%
- Cost of capital, years 1–5
- 11.7%
- Cost of capital after year 10
- 8.7%
- Return on capital after year 10
- 8.7%
- Chance of failure
- 0.0%
Value per share as two inputs change (revenue growth, years 2–5 down, target operating margin across)
| Revenue growth, years 2–5 | 28.1% | 33.1% | 38.1% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.0% | $141.32 | $164.38 | $187.45 |
| 10.0% | $156.42 | $183.12 | $209.81 |
| 13.0% | $173.60 | $204.43 | $235.26 |
Middle cell: the default story. Each step is 3 points of growth or 5 points of margin.
| Year | Growth | Revenue | Margin | Operating income | Tax rate | After-tax income | Reinvestment | Free cash flow | Cost of capital | Present value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24.5% | $555,103M | 33.1% | $183,797M | 18.4% | $149,978M | $80,910M | $69,068M | 11.7% | $61,823M |
| 2 | 10.0% | $610,613M | 33.1% | $202,177M | 18.4% | $164,976M | $41,116M | $123,860M | 11.7% | $99,238M |
| 3 | 10.0% | $671,675M | 33.1% | $222,394M | 18.4% | $181,474M | $45,227M | $136,246M | 11.7% | $97,711M |
| 4 | 10.0% | $738,842M | 33.1% | $244,634M | 18.4% | $199,621M | $49,750M | $149,871M | 11.7% | $96,207M |
| 5 | 10.0% | $812,727M | 33.1% | $269,097M | 18.4% | $219,583M | $54,725M | $164,858M | 11.7% | $94,726M |
| 6 | 9.0% | $886,018M | 33.1% | $293,364M | 19.7% | $235,513M | $54,286M | $181,227M | 11.1% | $93,717M |
| 7 | 8.0% | $957,219M | 33.1% | $316,939M | 21.0% | $250,255M | $52,737M | $197,518M | 10.5% | $92,429M |
| 8 | 7.1% | $1,024,741M | 33.1% | $339,296M | 22.4% | $263,429M | $50,013M | $213,416M | 9.9% | $90,871M |
| 9 | 6.1% | $1,086,963M | 33.1% | $359,898M | 23.7% | $274,674M | $46,087M | $228,587M | 9.3% | $89,052M |
| 10 | 5.1% | $1,142,290M | 33.1% | $378,217M | 25.0% | $283,662M | $40,980M | $242,683M | 8.7% | $86,985M |
| After 10 | 5.1% | $1,200,432M | 33.1% | $397,468M | 25.0% | $298,101M | $174,607M | $123,494M | 8.7% | $1,229,557M |
- Present value of years 1–10
- $902,759M
- Present value after year 10
- $1,229,557M
- Less debt, plus cash
- $121,680M
- Value of equity
- $2,253,996M
- Shares
- 12,309M
- Value per share, default story
- $183.12
Company figures: https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/googl/statistics/, TTM to Jun 2026. Industry averages: Aswath Damodaran, January 2026 US data. Risk-free rates: US 10-year Treasury 5.09% and Singapore 10-year 2.34%, 16 Oct 2026. Equity risk premium: Damodaran's implied premium of 4.20%, 1 Oct 2026. Company figures are the latest reported before 19 Oct 2026. Data as of 16 Oct 2026. The sheet follows the spreadsheets Aswath Damodaran publishes; it is not affiliated with or endorsed by him. A model's value is not a price target. For education only. Not financial advice.
Who owns it, and what's the mood?
Tracked investors and insiders
Trades in Alphabet (Class A) by the people we follow: Warren Buffett and Michael Burry (13F), Grab's officers (Form 4) and Nancy Pelosi (House reports). They show what happened, often weeks later, not what to copy.
| Who | Did | Size | When | Disclosed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warren BuffettBerkshire Hathaway | AddedShares (Class C) | +23,603,218 sharesabout $8,339,725,016 at quarter-end value | Q2 2026 | 14 Aug 202645 days after Q2 2026 ended |
| Warren BuffettBerkshire Hathaway | AddedShares (Class A) | +24,541,369 sharesabout $8,770,349,040 at quarter-end value | Q2 2026 | 14 Aug 202645 days after Q2 2026 ended |
| Bill AckmanPershing Square | Sold outShares (Class A) | −32,376 shares | Q2 2026 | 14 Aug 202645 days after Q2 2026 ended |
| Bill AckmanPershing Square | Sold outShares (Class C) | −311,726 shares | Q2 2026 | 14 Aug 202645 days after Q2 2026 ended |
| Terry SmithFundsmith | TrimmedShares (Class A) | −1,182,844 sharesabout $422,712,960 at quarter-end value | Q2 2026 | 14 Aug 202645 days after Q2 2026 ended |
| Stanley DruckenmillerDuquesne Family Office | New positionShares (Class A) | +336,300 sharesabout $120,183,531 at quarter-end value | Q2 2026 | 14 Aug 202645 days after Q2 2026 ended |
| David TepperAppaloosa | AddedShares (Class C) | +117,300 sharesabout $41,445,609 at quarter-end value | Q2 2026 | 14 Aug 202645 days after Q2 2026 ended |
| Dan LoebThird Point | AddedShares (Class A) | +850,000 sharesabout $303,764,500 at quarter-end value | Q2 2026 | 14 Aug 202645 days after Q2 2026 ended |
| Chris HohnTCI Fund Management | AddedShares (Class C) | +1,084,800 sharesabout $383,292,384 at quarter-end value | Q2 2026 | 14 Aug 202645 days after Q2 2026 ended |
| Cathie WoodARK Investment Management | AddedShares | +322,920 sharesabout $114,097,324 at quarter-end value | Q2 2026 | 14 Aug 202645 days after Q2 2026 ended |
Sources: SEC EDGAR 13F-HR and Form 4 filings, and the US House Clerk's Periodic Transaction Reports, checked 30 Oct 2026. 13F values are the quarter-end value, not the price paid. Showing the 10 latest of 30. All tracked trades ›
- Largest shareholdersSoonThe biggest holders from 13F filings and the annual proxy statement.—
- Chief executive and board holdingsSoonShares held by the CEO and directors, from the proxy statement and Form 4s.—
- Short interestSoonHow many shares are sold short, from exchange short-interest reports.—
Crowd favourite or value trap?
Neither is a label we can put on a stock. These are signs worth looking into, each from a figure on this page.
Signs of a crowd-driven price
Meme stocks move on attention more than on results: big swings, a price far from cash-flow value, thin profits.
1 of 4 signs
- NoSwings at least twice as much as the marketBeta 1.23, 5 years of monthly returns
- NoUp more than 100%, or down more than 50%, in a year1-year price change −0.22%
- YesPrice more than 50% above the valuation sheet's middle valuePrice +86% against the sheet's default story, 16 Oct 2026
- NoThin profits: operating margin under 5%, or a lossFY2025 operating margin 32.0%
Signs of a value trap
A value trap looks cheap because the business is shrinking or earning less than its capital costs.
1 of 4 signs
- NoLooks cheap: P/E under 12 or FCF yield over 8%P/E 25.9x, FCF yield 2.1%
- NoRevenue lower than five years agoRevenue +17.2% a year over 5 years
- NoReturns below the cost of capital5-year average ROIC 51.2% against 10.7%
- YesMore than 30% below its 52-week high−31.5% from the 52-week high
Prices, beta and 1-year change: Yahoo Finance weekly snapshot, 30 Oct 2026. Business figures: the five questions under Valuation and financials. A sign is a reason to dig deeper, not a verdict. For education only. Not financial advice.
Read it through a lens
Price data: Yahoo Finance, delayed. Company figures: each company's own filings, dated where they appear. A ticker on this site is not a recommendation. For education only. Not financial advice.