Alphabet (GOOGL) To Report Q1 Earnings: What's In The Cards?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is scheduled to report first-quarter fiscal 2018 earnings on Apr 23.

Notably, the stock outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters, with an average positive surprise of 6.71%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter earnings is pegged at $9.21 per share, indicating a 19.2% increase on a year-over-year basis. Revenues are estimated to be around $24.29 billion, indicating a 20.71% increase from the year-ago quarter.

Factors to Consider

Alphabet’s focus on innovation, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, home automation space, strategic acquisitions and Android OS are expected to be tailwinds. Notably, the company has successfully adapted to changing consumer trends, which is a positive.

It has managed to maintain its dominant share in a competitive, fast-growing search market. Additionally, Google has been growing rapidly in the fast-growing highly-competitive cloud market. Most recently, Google won a new cloud customer, Shopify, leaving behind Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) , which is currently the leader in the cloud platform market.

Additionally, in order to sustain its market share in the education market, Google recently unveiled its first Chrome OS tablet. Prices of Acer 9.7-inch Chromebook Tab 10 start at $329, which is the same as the current cheapest version of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad.

However, the company faces significant litigation all over the world as a result of its dominant position in search. Increased spending on its consumer gadgets, YouTube video app and cloud computing services also remains a concern. Additionally, the Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) data privacy scandal that has sparked fears of a regulatory crackdown on the technology sector is a headwind for the company.

What the Zacks Model Says

According to the Zacks model, a company with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) has a good chance of beating estimates if it also has a positive Earnings ESP. Sell-rated stocks (Zacks Rank #4 or 5) are best avoided.

Alphabet has a Zacks Rank #4 and an Earnings ESP of -2.61%. This indicates that the company is unlikely to beat estimates. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Stock to Consider

Here is a stock, which you may consider as our model shows that it has the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in its upcoming release:

Paycom Software, Inc. (NYSE:PAYC) has an Earnings ESP of +0.33% and sports a Zacks Rank #1.

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