Google Stock: How The Buy-Side ‘Bogey’ Number For Google Cloud Matters In Q3 Earnings

When Google Parents alphabet (GOOGL) reported third-quarter earnings late Wednesday, and analysts expect its cloud computing business to be a bright spot. A big enough bright spot could move Google shares. And here comes the “ghost” number.

Most investors are familiar with “sell-side” estimates from Wall Street analysts. the ghost The number indicates what buy-side analysts or institutional investors think the company should have to reach the stock’s high.

In the third quarter, analysts expect Google’s earnings per share to rise 8% to $2.28, with revenue rising 13% to $99.9 billion. also, Analysts expect 29% growth in Google Cloud revenue to $14.65 billion. But Google’s terrifying cloud growth figure is higher.

Google Cloud is gaining momentum

“We appreciate that investor growth ghost For the third quarter, 39% L Microsoft“Demand trends for core cloud infrastructure services appear to have picked up since the last round of checks in early July, and demand for GPU computing is impressive,” UBS analyst Karl Keirstead said in a report.

The AI ​​boom appears to be helping Google’s cloud business gain market share against AWS, which is part of Amazon (Amzn). Microsoft ranks second in cloud computing revenue and has been boosted by its partnership with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT and a leader in AI models.

Microsoft also reports earnings on Wednesday, followed by Amazon on Thursday. Amid massive increases in AI-related capital spending, Keirstead noted that “combined revenue for AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud was $66.2 billion in Q2 2025, an annual revenue run rate of $265 billion.”

When announcing second-quarter earnings, Google said it expects capital spending to reach $85 billion in 2025, up from previous guidance of $75 billion. With the updated guidance, capital spending is expected to jump 62% in 2025, up from a 43% increase.

Many companies are turning to multiple cloud computing vendors. New Google Cloud customers include OpenAI, Meta platforms (meta) and anthropic. Anthropic is also an AWS customer. One view is that Google’s homegrown AI accelerator chips, called TPUs, are becoming a stronger competitor. Nvidia (NVDA).

In March, Alphabet agreed to buy fast-growing cybersecurity company Wiz in a cash deal worth $32 billion. Analysts say the purchase could boost Google’s cloud business.

On the stock market today, Google stock fell a fraction to nearly 267 in early trading. Google shares rose 41% in 2025. Moreover, Google stock reached an all-time high of 256 on September 19, crossing the $3 trillion valuation barrier.

Google Stock: Buy or Sell Now?

GOOGL stock’s relative strength rating currently stands at 91 out of a top 99, according to IBD Stock Screener. The best stocks tend to have an RS Rating of 80 or better.

Google stock carries an Accumulation/Distribution rating of B. This institutional ownership rating analyzes the price and volume changes in the stock over the past 13 weeks of trading. A+ indicates heavy institutional buying; E means heavy selling. Think of C as neutral.

Furthermore, GOOGL stock carries an IBD Composite Rating of 98 out of a best possible score of 99. compound classification It is a combination of key fundamental and technical metrics to help investors gauge a stock’s strengths. The best growth stocks have a Composite Rating of 90 or better.

Follow Reinhardt Krauss on X, formerly Twitter, @reinhardtk_tech For updates on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and cloud computing.

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