Google stock: Alphabet shares steady after AI-cloud earnings surge

Alphabet’s Class A shares, traded under GOOGL, were recently quoted at $349.94, up $0.30 from the previous close, after investors digested a strong first-quarter report from Google’s parent company.

Alphabet said first-quarter revenue rose 22% to $109.9 billion, beating Wall Street expectations, while Google Cloud revenue jumped 63% to $20 billion, its strongest reported growth since the company began breaking out the segment. Reuters reported that the stock had risen more than 6% in extended trading after the results. (Reuters)

The rally was driven by investor confidence that Alphabet’s heavy artificial-intelligence spending is beginning to produce visible returns. Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said enterprise AI products became Google Cloud’s primary growth driver for the first time, while the company also began selling its TPU AI chips directly to select customers.

Still, spending remains a key concern. Alphabet raised its 2026 capital-expenditure forecast to $180 billion–$190 billion, as it races to expand AI and cloud capacity. The company’s cloud backlog nearly doubled to about $460 billion, with just over half expected to convert into revenue over the next 24 months.

Regulatory and governance risks also remain in focus. A group of Alphabet shareholders is pressing the company for more transparency around how its cloud and AI tools are used by governments, citing concerns over surveillance, military use, and oversight of high-risk contracts.

Bottom line: Alphabet’s latest results strengthened the bull case that Google is turning AI from a cost center into a revenue engine. But the stock’s next move may depend on whether cloud growth can keep outpacing rising AI infrastructure costs and regulatory pressure.