New York, Feb 23, 2026, 10:30 (EST) — Regular session
- Alphabet Class C (GOOG) tacked on 0.3% as the session got underway.
- Wells Fargo bumped Alphabet up to Overweight and raised its price target to $387.
- Tariff jitters are clouding sentiment just before this week’s crucial tech earnings reports.
Alphabet Inc’s Class C shares ticked higher Monday, with a 0.3% gain to $315.87, after Wells Fargo analyst Ken Gawrelski bumped up the Google parent’s rating, citing a lead in AI computing strength. GOOG moved in a range from $314.49 to $319.27 during the session. (TipRanks)
Investors are still hashing out whether Big Tech’s AI arms race turns into a protective moat or just eats into cash flow. Earlier this month, Alphabet projected its 2026 capital spending at $175 billion to $185 billion, with AI infrastructure singled out as the biggest factor behind the jump in capex—think servers, data centers, the works. (Reuters)
Macro backdrop’s working against stocks. Wall Street started on the back foot after President Donald Trump bumped the temporary blanket tariff up to 15%. That move put trade policy jitters back in play, sapping risk appetite as the week kicked off. (Reuters)
Wells Fargo has bumped Alphabet up to Overweight from Equal Weight, while also lifting its price target to $387 from $354, according to an Investing.com note. The call hinges on Alphabet’s plans to boost “compute capacity”—essentially, more data-centre muscle for training and running AI models. The firm now sees capacity hitting roughly 35 gigawatts by 2028, jumping from an estimated 15 gigawatts at the close of 2025. (Investing.com)
The broker flagged a new constraint for the largest cloud players: available compute is getting tight. “It increasingly appears hyperscaler ambitions are bounded by compute capacity,” analysts wrote. (Investors)
Alphabet’s Class C stock, despite Monday’s gain, is still trading far under its highs from early February. GOOG reached $350.15 back on Feb. 3. (TradingView)
Spending remains the issue. Should AI demand fade or if tough price competition sticks around in cloud and ad tech, Alphabet might find itself ramping up outlays just as growth momentum slows.
Tariffs bring fresh complications. Higher import duties can put the squeeze on corporate budgets, and if firms decide to cut back on marketing, Google’s ad-driven model could feel the pressure.
Looking past this week, Alphabet has a clear marker ahead: Google’s I/O developer conference is set for May 19–20. The company typically uses the event to preview new products and showcase more AI tools. (blog.google)
All eyes turn to Nvidia’s earnings Wednesday, Feb. 25, as traders seek fresh clues on the strength of AI infrastructure demand fueling Big Tech’s recent spending. (nvidianews.nvidia.com)
