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Nvidia’s Market Impact and the Rise of Alphabet in AI
Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has played a pivotal role in propelling the stock market to new highs this year. While that might sound like an overstatement, the enthusiasm surrounding Nvidia is palpable. Investors are eager to acquire shares of Nvidia, recognizing the company’s pivotal role in the infrastructure and advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. As a leading provider of computing solutions for AI, Nvidia has leveraged its significant pricing power to great advantage.
But what if there’s another tech giant with its own Nvidia-like subsidiary and the unique capability to integrate the entire AI supply chain?
Alphabet: The Comprehensive Powerhouse in AI
Enter Alphabet (GOOGL), the parent company of Google Search. Alphabet possesses unparalleled hardware, infrastructure, software, and engineering talent, developed over a decade, unmatched in AI technology today. Furthermore, Alphabet’s stock is trading at an attractive earnings multiple after experiencing a 20% decline from its all-time high in recent weeks.
Here’s why Alphabet stock is worth considering, especially if you missed out on Nvidia’s impressive gains.
Alphabet’s AI Ecosystem: A Vertical Integration
While Nvidia has made the graphics processing unit (GPU) an essential component in AI systems, Alphabet has been innovating in computer chip design for a decade. In 2015, Alphabet introduced its first tensor processing unit (TPU), aimed at optimizing the substantial computing costs associated with Google Search, YouTube, and other consumer internet services.
This computing hardware has rapidly advanced, with the sixth-generation Trillium achieving a 4.7x increase in compute performance compared to its predecessor. These advancements translate into significant cost savings for Alphabet’s new AI products.
TPUs serve as Alphabet’s internal Nvidia operation, forming the backbone of its AI computing capabilities. However, Alphabet’s reach extends beyond chip optimization. Google Cloud, powered by TPUs, offers Alphabet’s AI capabilities to third parties, generating $10.3 billion in revenue last quarter with a 29% year-over-year growth rate. As AI demand continues to rise, this division has substantial growth potential.
Alphabet also boasts a data advantage for training AI tools. Google Search, YouTube, and other Alphabet properties have billions of global users, providing a proprietary dataset for AI model training. This dataset differentiates Alphabet from competitors, such as OpenAI, which may face legal challenges for using data from YouTube transcripts for AI training.
Lastly, Alphabet’s AI talent pool is unmatched, thanks to investments in AI researchers since acquiring the DeepMind research lab in 2014. While some competitors may excel in specific aspects of the AI supply chain, such as Amazon’s cloud-computing operation, no other company combines computing technology, cloud infrastructure, data resources, and human expertise like Alphabet. This positions Alphabet as a leader in AI for the coming decade.
Balancing Growth and Investment
The demand for AI research and computing capacity is on the rise. But how will this translate to Alphabet’s profitability? In a recent conference call, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai emphasized the greater risk of underinvesting in AI compared to overinvesting and potentially wasting resources. However, shareholders are wary of wasteful spending, contributing to recent bearish sentiment around Alphabet stock.
Management plans to invest tens of billions of dollars in AI capabilities across its internet properties. To achieve a strong return on invested capital (ROIC), Alphabet aims to continue growing revenue across its primary segments: Google Search, YouTube, and Google Cloud.
In the last quarter, Google Search (including other Google properties) experienced a 14% revenue growth, reaching $48.5 billion. YouTube advertising saw a 13% increase, totaling $8.7 billion. As discussed earlier, Google Cloud’s performance is promising. However, investors must closely monitor revenue growth. If Alphabet’s AI infrastructure investments don’t yield revenue growth, profitability may decline.
Evaluating Alphabet’s Stock Value
Following a recent downturn, Alphabet now trades at a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of just 23, significantly lower than other tech industry competitors such as Apple, which has a P/E of 33 despite slower growth. The broader S&P 500 index trades at a P/E close to 29.
For those who believe in Alphabet’s AI advantage, the stock appears to be a bargain. Revenue growth across its cloud, YouTube, and Google Search segments is likely to bolster earnings. Additionally, management’s stock repurchasing efforts and the announcement of a new dividend enhance shareholder returns.
Overall, Alphabet stock presents an attractive opportunity at current levels. For those looking to invest in the growth of AI, Alphabet is a compelling choice.
The Potential of Radical Tech Breakthroughs
Imagine a technology valued at 30 times that of Nvidia. This radical tech breakthrough is poised to revolutionize every aspect of life, generating significant excitement on Wall Street.
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