Shares of Alphabet (GOOGL), the Google parent company, are up 9.9% year to date as of Feb. 2, far outpacing the S&P 500 Index’s 1.9% gain.

Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous driving technology subsidiary, revealed it had raised $16 billion in its latest fundraising round, now valuing the company at $126 billion, Reuters reported on Feb. 2. 

To some investors, the news reinforces the view that Alphabet still has much upside.

In January, Google unveiled several partnerships that strengthened Alphabet’s AI position as competition intensified, including working with Walmart (WMT) to launch a new shopping experience inside its Gemini chatbot and partnering with Apple (AAPL) to integrate Gemini models into Apple Intelligence features, including an upgraded Siri expected in 2026.

Alphabet reached $4 trillion valuation in January, marking another milestone for the stock. 

In 2025, Alpabet shares jumped 65.35%, the strongest performance among the Magnificent 7 tech stocks. 

Bank of America analysts expect Alphabet to report “an upside quarter.”

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What to watch in Google’s upcoming Q4 report

Alphabet is set to post its Q4 earnings after the market closes on Feb. 4. 

Analysts expect Alphabet to report revenue of $111.07 billion and earnings of $2.63 a share, according to Investing.com.

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On Oct. 30, 2025, Alphabet posted third-quarter results that topped Wall Street expectations, with revenue increasing 16% to $102.35 billion, beating estimates of $99.89 billion. Adjusted earnings for Q3 were $3.10 a share, compared with market forecasts of $2.33.

Alphabet’s shares rose 2.5% on Oct. 30, the next trading day following the Q3 report.

Growth in Alphabet’s cloud business was solid in Q3, with Google Cloud revenues increasing 34% to $15.2 billion. 

Alphabet repeatedly increased its capital spending plan in 2025 and has indicated higher spending in 2026.

“Looking out to 2026, we expect a significant increase in CapEx and will provide more detail on our fourth quarter earnings call,” Alphabet’s CFO Anat Ashkenazi said during the Q3 earnings call.

Analysts are rethinking their expectations for Alphabet before the report.

Bank of America raises bar for Alphabet earnings

Bank of America analysts Justin Post and Nitin Bansal now expect Alphabet to report “an upside quarter” on the usage ramp, according to a research note sent to TheStreet.

The analysts reiterated a buy rating and a $370 stock price goal for Alphabet, a target they raised from $335 in January.

Related: Analysts revisit Nvidia-backed AI stock ahead of earnings

Last week, Meta (META) reported solid Q4 earnings and highlighted more-than-expected AI spending in 2026. Based on Meta’s optimistic results and outlook, Bank of America said Google’s Q4 search and cloud segments will beat Wall Street estimates by 13% & 35%, respectively.

“Sentiment is positive,” the analysts wrote, “plus Meta has set a high bar for 1Q.”

“We think strong Gemini traffic data points, optimism on 1Q ad growth, commentary suggesting AI is aiding search monetization, enthusiasm on new products (Agentic), and strong Cloud results & backlog are needed (and likely) on the call to support stock.” 

Analysts have also raised their capital spending outlook for Alphabet, pointing to heavier investment across the AI sector. “Given Meta spend, we are raising FY26 capex by 14% to $139 billion.”

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