Monday, December 22, 2025 — Alphabet Inc.’s Class C shares (NASDAQ: GOOG) are in focus heading into the final stretch of the year as investors weigh fresh AI and cloud catalysts against a still-busy legal and regulatory calendar.
As of today, GOOG is trading around $308–$309 in midday action.
Alphabet’s valuation has moved into the rare air of mega-cap history—roughly $3.7 trillion by several market cap trackers—after a powerful 2025 run that has increasingly been framed as an “AI execution” story rather than a pure advertising story. [1]
Below is a full, publication-ready breakdown of the most relevant news, forecasts, and analysis available as of Dec. 22, 2025 for Alphabet’s Class C stock.
What GOOG Class C stock is — and why it trades so close to GOOGL
Alphabet has multiple share classes. For most investors, the practical difference between GOOG and GOOGL is voting power:
- GOOG (Class C): no voting rights
- GOOGL (Class A): one vote per share
- Class B: super-voting shares largely held by insiders/founders
Alphabet states this structure directly in its filings. [2]
In day-to-day market terms, GOOG and GOOGL typically move almost in lockstep, because they represent the same underlying economics (cash flows) even if governance differs.
GOOG stock snapshot on Dec. 22, 2025
Here’s the quick context investors are using to frame Alphabet at year-end:
- Price (midday): about $308–$309
- Market cap: around $3.7T [3]
- Recent trading range: GOOG’s recent high is widely cited near $328.67 (late November), putting the stock modestly off its peak. [4]
- Dividend: market data listings show Alphabet’s annualized dividend at $0.84 with a very small yield (sub-1%). [5]
Alphabet’s rally narrative has also been reinforced by “who’s biggest” market-cap chatter: prediction market odds for Alphabet becoming the largest company by the end of 2026 have been rising, according to MarketWatch’s reporting on Polymarket. [6]
The real fundamental backdrop: Alphabet’s latest quarterly results and AI capex surge
The most recent reported quarter (Q3 2025) is still a central reference point for bulls and bears because it combined:
- A milestone revenue quarter, and
- A major upward reset of AI infrastructure spending.
Alphabet reported that Q3 2025 revenue rose 16% year over year to $102.3 billion, its first-ever quarter above $100B in revenue. [7]
Reuters also highlighted that Alphabet raised its 2025 capex outlook to $91–$93 billion, reflecting how aggressively the company is building data centers and AI infrastructure. [8]
That combination—strong top-line momentum + rapidly rising capex—is the core tension inside most GOOG debates right now:
- Bulls argue this is Alphabet “investing from strength” to extend its AI and cloud moat.
- Bears argue the spending race could compress free cash flow margins if growth slows or pricing weakens.
Today’s biggest GOOG catalyst: Google Cloud’s security expansion with Palo Alto Networks
One of the most market-relevant Alphabet items in the December news flow has been Google Cloud’s deeper push into enterprise security—positioning security as both a growth lever and a strategic wedge against AWS and Microsoft Azure.
The headline
Google Cloud and Palo Alto Networks announced an expanded partnership that Reuters described as approaching $10 billion over several years—potentially Google Cloud’s largest security services deal to date, according to a source cited by Reuters. [9]
Why the market cares
This isn’t just a marketing partnership. Reporting indicates the arrangement includes meaningful workload migration and joint AI-driven security development—precisely the kind of enterprise deal that investors view as durable, multi-year cloud revenue. [10]
The bigger strategy behind it: “security + AI + cloud”
The deal lands amid Alphabet’s broader security buildout, including its planned acquisition of Wiz:
- Alphabet announced in March 2025 it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Wiz for $32 billion (subject to regulatory approvals and customary conditions). [11]
- Reuters reported in November 2025 that the deal cleared DOJ antitrust review, while still requiring other approvals and steps before closing (expected in 2026). [12]
Put together, the market is increasingly treating Google Cloud as not merely “catching up,” but as building a differentiated stack where AI workloads and security are sold as a combined platform.
AI product momentum: Gemini 3 Flash rolls out
Alphabet’s AI narrative has been helped by a steady cadence of product updates—particularly around Gemini.
Google announced Gemini 3 Flash is rolling out to developers and positioned it as a “frontier intelligence” model built to scale with speed and efficiency. [13]
Google has also published release-focused updates and product posts positioning Gemini 3 Flash as a major everyday upgrade within the Gemini ecosystem. [14]
Why this matters for GOOG investors:
- It reinforces that Alphabet is trying to compete on model quality + unit economics (cost/speed), not only on flashy demos.
- It supports the thesis that Gemini is becoming a platform layer that can drive usage across Search, Workspace, Android, and Cloud—although monetization and margin impact remain the key investor questions.
The “hardware + software” angle: TorchTPU and Alphabet’s move against Nvidia’s ecosystem advantage
Another story investors are watching closely is Alphabet’s effort to make its Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) more attractive to the broader AI developer community—especially developers standardized on PyTorch.
Reuters reported that Google is working on an initiative internally known as “TorchTPU” intended to make TPUs more PyTorch-friendly, including collaboration with Meta (closely tied to PyTorch). [15]
If Alphabet can reduce TPU adoption friction, the potential upside is twofold:
- More AI workloads pulled into Google Cloud, and
- Better economics by offering a vertically optimized alternative to Nvidia-heavy stacks.
This is not a “next quarter” story—it’s a strategic positioning move that could matter over multiple years if it changes developer behavior.
Waymo optionality: funding talks imply $100B+ valuation
Waymo remains Alphabet’s most meaningful “Other Bets” asset in the eyes of public market investors—and the robotaxi race has become a renewed headline driver.
Reuters reported that Waymo has been discussing a fundraising round of potentially over $10 billion, targeting a valuation of at least $100 billion (with other reporting suggesting even higher figures), and that Alphabet is expected to lead the round. [16]
This matters to GOOG in two ways:
- Narrative: It supports the view that Alphabet’s AI capabilities translate into defensible real-world autonomy tech.
- Valuation: A clearer external valuation reference for Waymo can influence how investors think about Alphabet’s sum-of-the-parts (even if “Other Bets” remains loss-making overall).
Legal and regulatory risks: still a major overhang for 2026
Alphabet’s rally has not eliminated regulatory risk—it has just shifted investor focus toward what remedies are likely, when they might bite, and whether AI competition changes the political appetite for breakups.
U.S. search antitrust: yearly default-deal rebids and data sharing
In early December 2025, a federal judge ruled Google must limit contracts that make its search engine (or AI app) the default to one-year terms, forcing more frequent renegotiation and, in theory, more opportunities for rivals to compete for default placement. [17]
Earlier in 2025, Reuters reported that Google was also required to share certain search data with competitors as part of antitrust remedies, while avoiding more structural remedies like selling Chrome (at that stage of the case). [18]
EU: potential fine expected next year
Reuters reported in December that Google is expected to face an EU antitrust fine next year tied to allegations it has not done enough to comply with rules against favoring its own services in search results. [19]
Play Store reforms
Separately, Reuters reported the U.S. Supreme Court allowed an order that would force Google to implement Play Store reforms, with some provisions not taking effect until 2026. [20]
Other legal headlines investors noticed this month
- Reuters reported Google sued SerpApi, alleging it used massive volumes of “fake” search requests to scrape and resell search content. [21]
- Reuters also reported a temporary asset freeze in France tied to actions stemming from Google’s defunct Russian business and related rulings. [22]
None of these items alone necessarily “breaks” the Alphabet thesis—but together they represent why many institutions still model ongoing legal costs, uncertainty, and headline volatility.
GOOG stock forecast: what analysts are projecting for 2026
The “forecast” most investors follow for mega-cap stocks like Alphabet isn’t a single prediction—it’s the distribution of analyst targets and how that distribution shifts after major product, earnings, or legal events.
Consensus target and rating
MarketWatch’s analyst estimates page for Alphabet Class C (GOOG) shows:
- Average target price: $334.69
- Number of analyst ratings: 75
- Average recommendation: Buy [23]
With GOOG around ~$308–$309 today, that average target implies roughly 8%–9% upside on a 12‑month view, though the spread is wide and forecasts shift quickly after earnings and legal rulings. [24]
WSJ’s research ratings page similarly shows a target range with a high estimate at $432 and a low estimate at $268, underscoring how differently analysts model the upside (AI/cloud execution) versus the downside (regulatory/capex/competition). [25]
Notable recent target changes
- Citi raised its Alphabet price target to $350 (from $343) while maintaining a Buy rating, according to TheFly coverage via TipRanks. [26]
- Pivotal Research raised its price target to $400 (from $350) and reiterated a Buy rating, also reported via TheFly coverage. [27]
Targets like $350–$400 are typically anchored in an “AI + cloud operating leverage” outlook, plus the belief that Search can defend its margins even as AI experiences change query behavior. The counterargument is that heavy infrastructure spend and regulatory remedies could limit multiple expansion.
Next major forecast catalyst: the next earnings date
Finance portals list Alphabet’s next earnings date as early February 2026 (estimated). [28]
What could move Alphabet (GOOG) next: 6 things investors will watch into early 2026
- Q4 2025 earnings: whether Cloud growth stays strong and whether AI features in Search support monetization. (The Street is still anchored to the “first $100B quarter” momentum from Q3.) [29]
- Capex follow-through: investors will look for signals that higher spending (the $91–$93B capex range) is producing backlog conversion and margin durability—not just bigger depreciation lines. [30]
- Google Cloud security monetization: whether the Palo Alto partnership becomes a template for more large-scale security and AI-workload migrations. [31]
- Wiz acquisition timeline: closing steps and regulatory approvals outside the DOJ review that Reuters said was cleared. [32]
- Antitrust remedy implementation and appeals: the one-year contract limits and data sharing requirements could evolve as legal processes continue. [33]
- Waymo fundraising outcome: if funding and valuation terms become official, the “Other Bets” story may become more investable—and more frequently modeled—by generalist portfolios. [34]
Bottom line for GOOG on Dec. 22, 2025
Alphabet’s Class C stock ends 2025 with a rare combination of tailwinds:
- Google Cloud appears to be landing larger, more strategic deals, including a Reuters-described partnership with Palo Alto Networks approaching $10B. [35]
- Gemini product momentum continues, with Gemini 3 Flash rolling out and being positioned as a faster, scalable frontier model. [36]
- Longer-term strategic bets (TPUs, Waymo) are generating headline traction and investor optionality. [37]
At the same time, the investment case is not “clean”:
- Antitrust and regulatory remedies remain a real swing factor for distribution economics and long-term search defaults. [38]
- AI capex is enormous, and markets will keep pressuring management to show that today’s spend converts into durable cloud backlog, margins, and free cash flow. [39]
References
1. companiesmarketcap.com, 2. www.sec.gov, 3. companiesmarketcap.com, 4. www.tradingview.com, 5. www.nasdaq.com, 6. www.marketwatch.com, 7. s206.q4cdn.com, 8. www.reuters.com, 9. www.reuters.com, 10. www.reuters.com, 11. blog.google, 12. www.reuters.com, 13. blog.google, 14. blog.google, 15. www.reuters.com, 16. www.reuters.com, 17. www.bloomberg.com, 18. www.reuters.com, 19. www.reuters.com, 20. www.reuters.com, 21. www.reuters.com, 22. www.reuters.com, 23. www.marketwatch.com, 24. www.marketwatch.com, 25. www.wsj.com, 26. www.tipranks.com, 27. www.tipranks.com, 28. ca.finance.yahoo.com, 29. s206.q4cdn.com, 30. www.reuters.com, 31. www.reuters.com, 32. www.reuters.com, 33. www.bloomberg.com, 34. www.reuters.com, 35. www.reuters.com, 36. blog.google, 37. www.reuters.com, 38. www.bloomberg.com, 39. www.reuters.com
