NEW YORK, Jan 8, 2026, 10:18 (EST) — Regular session
- GOOG was up 0.1% at $322.69 in early trade, after swinging from $329.88 to $322.23.
- EU antitrust regulators set a Feb. 10 deadline to decide on Alphabet’s $32 billion Wiz acquisition.
- Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Deepak Mathivanan upgraded Alphabet to Overweight from Neutral and raised the price target to $370.
Alphabet’s non-voting Class C shares were little changed on Thursday after EU regulators set a Feb. 10 deadline for an initial call on Google’s planned Wiz purchase and after Cantor Fitzgerald lifted its rating. The stock opened higher and then sagged, tracking the broader wobble in growth shares.
The deadline matters because Wiz would be Alphabet’s biggest deal and a rare megacap bet on cloud security, an area where deals now draw instant scrutiny. A longer review can freeze a transaction for months, keeping investors guessing on costs and timing.
For GOOG, that uncertainty collides with a different one: whether the AI boom translates into steadier revenue or just heavier spending. Even small shifts in ad trends or cloud bookings can overwhelm a one-day pop.
Cantor Fitzgerald’s Deepak Mathivanan lifted Alphabet to “Overweight” from “Neutral” and raised his price target to $370 from $310. In broker shorthand, an Overweight call says the stock should outperform peers, and the target sits roughly 15% above current levels.
Alphabet rose more than 2% on Wednesday as investors rotated back into AI-linked megacaps, helping the Nasdaq eke out a gain even as the S&P 500 fell, Reuters reported. “Investors have come into 2026 with a similar playbook to last year: Buy tech and forget about it,” Jake Dollarhide, chief executive of Longbow Asset Management, said. Traders are also bracing for Friday’s U.S. payrolls report, which can swing rate expectations and, by extension, tech valuations. Reuters
In Brussels, the European Commission can clear the Wiz deal in its preliminary review, demand concessions or open a full investigation. Alphabet won U.S. clearance in November and has pitched the purchase as a way to sharpen Google Cloud’s security edge against Amazon and Microsoft.
Alphabet is scheduled to report fourth-quarter results after the close on Feb. 3, with a TipRanks consensus EPS forecast of $2.63. Cloud growth and capital spending are likely to do most of the talking on the call.
But the Wiz process can still drag: a deeper EU probe could push the closing out or force remedies that dilute the strategic value. And if Friday’s jobs report runs hot, the market’s patience for expensive AI trades can thin out fast.
The next clear date on the Wiz track is Feb. 10, when EU regulators are due to say whether the deal gets a quick clearance or a longer review.
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