By Angela Palumbo
Alphabet stock has more room to run because the company's artificial- intelligence tools seem to be boosting engagement with Google search, analysts say.
TD Cowen analyst John Blackledge raised his target for Alphabet's stock price to $350 from $335 on Friday, a call that implies a 12% gain from the stock's Thursday closing price of $312.43. Evercore ISI analyst Mark Mahaney is positive as well.
Blackledge, who rates Alphabet as a Buy, wrote in a note that there were three main reasons why he raised his price target. First, he said, survey data showed usage of the Gemini chatbot has increased following the launch of Gemini 3, Alphabet's latest AI model. He also saw continued increases in search engagement driven by usage of AI Mode and AI Overviews, and said an increasing share of ChatGPT users are also using Gemini.
AI Overviews are AI -generated answers that appear on the top of Google's search page. AI Mode is a AI search feature that provides longer, more personalized responses to Google searches.
Shares of Alphabet were down 1.9% to $306.55 on Friday. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.8%.
Alphabet stock has had quite the year. It hit a 52-week closing low of $144.70 on April 8 as Wall Street waited for a judge to rule on changes the company needed to make following a 2024 ruling that Google had a monopoly in general search services and general text advertising.
Competition in search was another concern because chatbots such as ChatGPT and Perplexity were growing in popularity.
Now, the stock has bounced back. Shares have soared 113% from that 52- week closing low, for a gain of 63% so far this year. The stock is on pace for its best year since 2021, when it rose 65%.
Shares jumped 9.1% on Sept. 3 alone after the judge handling the antitrust case released what appeared to be a limited set of remedies to mitigate the company's monopoly on internet search. Analysts are more optimistic about Google's ability to compete as AI models proliferate.
"Rising Al Overviews and Al Mode adoption and engagement are driving higher overall Google query growth," Blackledge wrote. He added that "as GOOG ramps monetization on both surfaces, we expect that they will be a driver of Search revenue growth in '26 and beyond."
Evercore ISI analyst Mark Mahaney agrees.
"Google's Gen AI innovations are creating an overall better Search experience for users, driving incremental Search queries, which should translate into consistently robust Search Revenue growth for Google," he wrote in a note on Thursday. Mahaney rates Alphabet at Outperform with a $325 price target.
Analysts in general are optimistic about Alphabet's future. Of the 76 surveyed by FactSet, 64 say the stock is a Buy, 12 say have it at Hold, and none say it is a Sell.
Write to Angela Palumbo at angela.palumbo@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 12, 2025 13:40 ET (18:40 GMT)
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