BUZZ-PREVIEW: Alphabet shares hit fresh record as Q4 EPS, rev seen rising

Shares in Google's parent Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O last up 1.4% on Tuesday, after hitting new record high, ahead of quarterly report due after market close

Wall Street sees GOOGL posting Q4 adj EPS of $2.13 vs $1.64 in year-ago quarter on rev of $96.56 bln, up ~12% y/y, according to the latest data from LSEG

In the last 8 quarters GOOGL's rev and EPS beat Street consensus view 7 times with the one miss being in Q4 of 2022

Alphabet will face investor scrutiny over massive spending on artificial intelligence as Q4 rev growth is expected to have slowed from ~15% y/y growth in Q3 due to advertising, cloud businesses slowdown

Shares last traded at $204.13 vs median PT of $220, as per LSEG, which shows 58 analyst ratings of 15 'strong buy,' 31 'buy' and 12 'hold' recommendations

With move on the session, GOOGL shares up ~8% YTD after rising 35.5% in 2024. This compares to ~10% YTD gain for S&P 500 communications services index .SPLRCL and 2024 gain of 38.9%