Bank of America Doubles Down on Google Stock Ahead of Earnings
Bank of America has reiterated its buy rating and $430 price target on Alphabet (Google) ahead of its Q2 2026 earnings report on July 22. The bank raised its Q2 EPS estimate to $8.38, far above the Street consensus of $2.90, primarily due to an estimated $80 billion unrealized gain from Alphabet's 14% stake in AI company Anthropic, whose valuation nearly tripled to $965 billion in Q2. Beyond this accounting effect, BofA expects strong performance in Google Cloud, forecasting 70% growth (up from 63% in Q1) and operating margins approaching the mid-30% range. The bank also projects Search revenue growth of 17% in Q2. Analysts caution that investors will need to strip out the Anthropic gain to assess underlying business performance.
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Bank of America Doubles Down on Google Stock Ahead of Earnings
Bank of America has reiterated its buy rating and $430 price target on Alphabet (Google) ahead of its Q2 2026 earnings report on July 22. The bank raised its Q2 EPS estimate to $8.38, far above the Street consensus of $2.90, primarily due to an estimated $80 billion unrealized gain from Alphabet's 14% stake in AI company Anthropic, whose valuation nearly tripled to $965 billion in Q2. Beyond this accounting effect, BofA expects strong performance in Google Cloud, forecasting 70% growth (up from 63% in Q1) and operating margins approaching the mid-30% range. The bank also projects Search revenue growth of 17% in Q2. Analysts caution that investors will need to strip out the Anthropic gain to assess underlying business performance.