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Google’s AI pitch is getting louder
BNP Paribas’ Nick Jones basically said Alphabet has moved from “cool AI demo” territory to the part where enterprises actually build stuff and pay for it. That’s the good stuff. The bank is now “incrementally positive” on Google’s role in agentic AI, and it thinks the company’s vertically integrated cloud setup gives it a cleaner shot at winning enterprise budgets.
Why Wall Street cares
The thesis here is pretty simple: if Google can bundle its own chips, third-party GPUs, and cloud infrastructure into one tidy AI playground, customers may find it easier to spend — and harder to leave. That could help Cloud growth accelerate over time, especially as companies move from proof-of-concept experiments to real deployment.
Jones also sounded pretty comfortable with Google’s rising capex, calling it reasonable given the push to scale AI infrastructure like TPUs and the underlying data architecture. Translation: yes, it’s expensive, but the bank thinks this is the kind of spending that can pay off later instead of just turning into a very fancy receipt.
The market is already leaning in
Alphabet is sitting near the top of its 52-week range, and the stock has had a monster 12-month run. So this isn’t exactly a hidden gem story — more like Wall Street looking at the same shiny object and saying, “Actually, maybe there’s still room.”
- BNP’s price target: $390
- That implies about 15% upside from the cited price level
- Alphabet reports earnings on April 29, so this note lands right before the next big check-in
Big picture: Google’s ad machine still matters, but the stock is increasingly being judged on whether AI and Cloud can grow up fast enough to justify the valuation.