Alphabet Inc.’s Class C shares (NASDAQ: GOOG) are trading in a holiday-thinned session on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025, with U.S. equities markets scheduled to close early at 1:00 p.m. ET ahead of Christmas Day. [1]
In early trading, GOOG hovered around $314 (recent trade: $313.87), modestly lower on the day, with the session range roughly $313.42–$317.39.
The bigger story for investors isn’t the day’s small price move. It’s how Alphabet’s late‑2025 narrative—AI infrastructure spending, cloud momentum, and “Other Bets” optionality—keeps colliding with real‑world execution risks (including today’s headline involving Waymo).
Alphabet Class C stock: what GOOG represents (and why it matters)
Alphabet has multiple share classes. In the public market, most investors focus on:
- GOOG (Class C) — economic interest in Alphabet, no voting rights
- GOOGL (Class A) — economic interest in Alphabet, one vote per share
In practice, GOOG and GOOGL usually trade closely together, reflecting the same underlying business (Google Search/Ads, YouTube, Google Cloud, and a portfolio of “Other Bets” led by Waymo). The Class C line is often preferred by investors who don’t need voting rights and simply want exposure to Alphabet’s earnings power and cash flow.
Why today’s session is different: Christmas Eve trading dynamics
Christmas Eve often means lower liquidity and headline‑driven moves rather than deep institutional repositioning. The early close can exaggerate intraday swings, especially in mega‑caps where options and systematic flows typically play a role.
Major U.S. benchmarks opened near flat in the shortened session as markets hovered around record levels into the holiday break. [2]
That backdrop matters for GOOG because Alphabet’s 2025 run has been powerful, and year‑end positioning can amplify reactions to “good news / bad news” items even when the long‑term thesis hasn’t changed.
The top Alphabet headline on Dec. 24: Waymo pledges a software update after San Francisco outage gridlock
The most consequential Alphabet‑linked news dated Dec. 24, 2025 centers on Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous‑driving unit.
According to Reuters, Waymo said it will update software and improve emergency response protocols after a widespread San Francisco power outage caused some Waymo robotaxis to stall and contribute to congestion as traffic signals went dark. Regulators in California are reviewing the incident. [3]
Key details from the report investors are paying attention to:
- Waymo paused service during the disruption and later resumed operations in the Bay Area. [4]
- Waymo said its vehicles handled thousands of dark signals, but a “spike” in confirmation requests created a backlog and delayed responses in some cases. [5]
- The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is reviewing the issue; the CPUC and DMV oversee permits for robotaxi deployment. [6]
- The report also notes recent scrutiny: earlier in December, Waymo issued a recall tied to software updates after Texas officials raised concerns about vehicles passing stopped school buses, prompting a federal probe. [7]
How this can affect GOOG (even though Waymo isn’t the core profit engine)
Waymo sits inside Alphabet’s longer‑duration “option value.” It is not what pays the bills—Search, YouTube, and Cloud do that. But Waymo headlines can still matter to GOOG because they influence:
- Regulatory momentum (permits, expansion pace, operating constraints)
- Public trust (critical for rider growth and city approvals)
- Valuation narrative (how much “future tech” investors are willing to price in)
In short: today’s Waymo update is a reminder that scaling autonomy is as much about operations and edge‑cases as it is about AI breakthroughs.
The other big late‑December catalyst: Alphabet’s $4.75B Intersect deal and the AI power scramble
While Waymo is today’s headline, Alphabet’s most strategically important December development may be its move to secure energy and data‑center infrastructure for AI.
Alphabet announced on Dec. 22, 2025 a definitive agreement to acquire Intersect for $4.75 billion in cash plus assumption of debt, aiming to accelerate U.S. energy innovation and bring more data center and generation capacity online faster. [8]
Reuters framed the deal as part of a broader wave of Big Tech spending to lock down electricity supply and infrastructure for AI workloads, noting Intersect has significant assets/projects and expects gigawatt‑scale power development by 2028. [9]
Why the Intersect deal is “GOOG‑relevant” even if it’s not huge relative to Alphabet’s size
AI is turning electricity, grid interconnects, and data center buildouts into strategic bottlenecks. Alphabet is effectively saying: compute growth requires power growth, and it wants more control over that constraint.
MarketWatch’s analysis of the Intersect move described it as part of an intensifying “AI power scramble,” aimed at supporting AI and cloud expansion. [10]
Alphabet’s AI investment case: cloud traction, chips, and capex (the engine behind the rally)
Alphabet’s 2025 story has been about “proof” that AI spending can translate into revenue—especially through Google Cloud.
On Alphabet’s Q3 earnings call transcript (Oct. 29, 2025), management highlighted:
- A $100B+ quarter and strong momentum across the business [11]
- Cloud backlog cited at $155 billion and tight supply/demand conditions [12]
- A raised 2025 capex outlook to $91B–$93B, plus expectations of a significant increase in 2026 capex [13]
This capex intensity is a double‑edged sword for GOOG:
- Bulls see it as Alphabet building defensible AI infrastructure and cloud capacity.
- Bears worry about whether returns will match the scale of spend.
Two late‑2025 developments that reinforce Alphabet’s “AI infrastructure” storyline
1) Google Cloud’s massive security partnership with Palo Alto Networks
Reuters reported an expanded partnership that a source said was approaching $10 billion in commitments over several years, described as Google Cloud’s largest security services deal. [14]
2) Google’s push to weaken Nvidia’s software lock‑in (TorchTPU)
Reuters also reported Google is working on “TorchTPU,” an effort to make its AI chips run PyTorch more seamlessly—aimed at reducing developer dependence on Nvidia’s CUDA ecosystem and improving TPU adoption via Cloud. [15]
Together, these point toward a clear objective: turn Alphabet’s internal AI stack into a sellable platform.
Product narrative: Gemini 3 moves from “benchmarks” to “embedded monetization”
Alphabet’s AI product cycle has increasingly been judged not just on model performance, but on whether new models are shipped into products people use—and pay for.
Reuters reported that Google launched Gemini 3 and emphasized embedding it into revenue‑generating products, including integrating Gemini 3 into Search immediately. [16]
Google’s own product announcement positioned Gemini 3 as its most advanced model and described availability across the Gemini app, AI Studio, and Vertex AI. [17]
This “ship fast into Search/Cloud” strategy has been central to the bullish GOOG narrative into year‑end.
Wall Street forecasts for GOOG: where price targets stand (and why they’re split)
With GOOG near the mid‑$300s, analyst targets are no longer uniformly “far above” the current quote—a sign that the stock has already priced in a lot of good news.
Consensus snapshot (aggregated)
MarketBeat’s consensus for GOOG shows:
- Consensus rating: Buy (based on 41 analyst ratings)
- Average 12‑month price target: $313.04
- Target range: $210–$400 [18]
That average target sitting near the current price illustrates a common late‑cycle dynamic: analysts like the company, but the stock has already run.
Recent notable target raises (late 2025)
Some firms still see significant upside—especially if cloud growth and AI monetization stay strong:
- Guggenheim raised its target on GOOG to $375 (Buy rating), citing cloud backlog growth, YouTube, and Gemini adoption. [19]
- Pivotal Research raised its target on GOOGL to $400 (Buy rating), pointing to cloud growth assumptions and longer‑horizon valuation modeling. [20]
- BMO Capital raised its target on GOOGL to $343 (Outperform), referencing stronger cloud growth expectations. [21]
Because GOOG and GOOGL typically trade in tandem, these targets are commonly discussed interchangeably by market participants—though they are formally attached to one share class.
What’s driving the spread between “flat from here” and “still meaningful upside”
The gap comes down to two questions:
- Can Google Cloud sustain elevated growth rates while margins expand?
- Can Search and YouTube keep growing while AI changes user behavior and ad formats?
If the answer is “yes” on both, the higher targets can make sense. If cloud growth slows or AI reshapes search monetization faster than ads can adapt, valuation compression becomes the risk.
“Other Bets” optionality: Waymo fundraising chatter adds another layer
Even before today’s outage‑related headline, Waymo has been a regular feature in Alphabet’s investor conversation in December.
Reuters reported on Dec. 16 that Waymo was discussing raising billions at a valuation of at least $100 billion, according to reporting from The Information (and noted Bloomberg also reported Waymo looking to raise more than $15B at a valuation near $100B). [22]
If Waymo eventually attracts large third‑party capital at a strong valuation, it can:
- help fund expansion without leaning solely on Alphabet’s balance sheet, and
- provide a clearer market signal for how investors value autonomy as a standalone business.
But today’s operational incident underscores that scaling is never linear.
Risk checklist for GOOG investors heading into 2026
Beyond day‑to‑day trading, GOOG’s 2026 path will likely hinge on a few recurring risk themes:
1) AI capex and depreciation pressure
Alphabet has explicitly signaled a further rise in capex into 2026, and has discussed depreciation pressure linked to infrastructure investment. [23]
2) Regulation and cross‑border legal exposure
Reuters reported a temporary freeze of assets in France tied to proceedings involving Google’s defunct Russian business, highlighting how geopolitics and enforcement actions can create unpredictable tail risks. [24]
3) Autonomy execution and safety scrutiny
Waymo’s growth upside is real, but incidents—whether outage‑related stalling or regulatory probes—can change the pace of deployment. [25]
4) Valuation after a major run
Alphabet’s 2025 rally has been widely characterized as AI‑fueled, with Reuters noting the stock’s surge and the market’s focus on cloud momentum and Gemini. [26]
MarketWatch has also pointed to the growing market narrative around Alphabet potentially becoming the world’s largest company by 2026, a sign of elevated expectations. [27]
What to watch next: the Q4 earnings window and 2026 guidance
The next major scheduled catalyst is earnings and forward guidance. Nasdaq’s earnings page lists Alphabet’s GOOG earnings as estimated around Feb. 3, 2026 (not yet confirmed by the company). [28]
Other calendars likewise flag early February 2026 as the expected window for Q4 results. [29]
For GOOG, investors will likely focus on:
- 2026 capex guidance (and any comment on power/data center constraints)
- Google Cloud growth and backlog conversion
- monetization progress in AI‑enhanced Search experiences
- any update on Waymo scale, safety, and regulatory posture
Bottom line on Alphabet Class C stock (GOOG) on Dec. 24, 2025
GOOG is ending 2025 with a narrative most mega‑caps would envy: AI momentum, cloud credibility, and a growing ecosystem of products (Gemini) and infrastructure (TPUs, data centers, energy deals). [30]
But today’s Waymo story is a useful reminder: even for a company powered by world‑class AI, execution in the physical world—operations, safety protocols, and regulatory trust—still matters. [31]
If you’d like, I can also rewrite this into a stricter “wire-style” Google News format (shorter paragraphs, more attribution, less analysis), while keeping it SEO-friendly and still grounded in today’s reporting.
References
1. www.nyse.com, 2. www.reuters.com, 3. www.reuters.com, 4. www.reuters.com, 5. www.reuters.com, 6. www.reuters.com, 7. www.reuters.com, 8. abc.xyz, 9. www.reuters.com, 10. www.marketwatch.com, 11. abc.xyz, 12. abc.xyz, 13. abc.xyz, 14. www.reuters.com, 15. www.reuters.com, 16. www.reuters.com, 17. blog.google, 18. www.marketbeat.com, 19. www.investing.com, 20. www.investing.com, 21. www.investing.com, 22. www.reuters.com, 23. abc.xyz, 24. www.reuters.com, 25. www.reuters.com, 26. www.reuters.com, 27. www.marketwatch.com, 28. www.nasdaq.com, 29. www.zacks.com, 30. abc.xyz, 31. www.reuters.com
