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Alphabet (GOOGL), the parent company of Google, is scheduled to report third quarter 2025 results after the market close on Wednesday, October 29, with a conference call scheduled for 5:30 pm Eastern Time. What to watch for:

EXPECTATIONS: Current consensus EPS and revenue forecasts for Alphabet's September-end quarter stand at $2.26 and $100.14B, respectively, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

That $2.26 EPS estimate for the third quarter is down 7c over the past 90 days ago, according to S&P data.

BIG CLOUD CUSTOMERS: In late August, The Information's Kevin McLaughlin and Kalley Huang reported that Alphabet's Google had reached a cloud computing deal worth over $10B with Meta Platforms (META), citing two people familiar with the matter. As part of the deal, the Facebook parent will use Google Cloud's servers, storage, networking, and other services, the authors noted.

Jordan Novet and Jonathan Vanian of CNBC also reported that Alphabet's Google had won over a $10B cloud contract from Meta. The agreement is for six years, sources told CNBC.

Last week, Anthropic announced that it plans to expand its use of Google Cloud technologies, including up to one million TPUs, dramatically increasing compute resources. The expansion is worth tens of billions of dollars and is expected to bring well over a gigawatt of capacity online in 2026, the company stated. Anthropic's compute strategy focuses on a diversified approach that uses three chip platforms - Google's TPUs, Amazon's (AMZN) Trainium, and Nvidia's (NVDA) GPUs. "Anthropic's choice to significantly expand its usage of TPUs reflects the strong price-performance and efficiency its teams have seen with TPUs for several years," said Thomas Kurian, CEO at Google Cloud. "We are continuing to innovate and drive further efficiencies and increased capacity of our TPUs, building on our already mature AI accelerator portfolio, including our seventh generation TPU, Ironwood."

KEEPING CHROME: On September 2, District of Columbia U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta ruled that "the complete divestiture of Chrome is a poor fit" for the DOJ antitrust case. In the U.S. Department of Justice antitrust case against Google's search and advertising business, the court accepted, with its modifications, Google's proposed remedies in full and adopted Plaintiffs' proposed remedies in part, the ruling noted. The federal judge's ruling that Google will not have to sell its popular Chrome browser allows the Alphabet unit to avoid one of the most significant remedy requests from the U.S. after the court determined the company had an illegal monopoly in the search market, though Judge Amit Mehta did bar Google from entering into exclusive contracts for internet search.

Afterward, Oppenheimer raised the firm's price target on Alphabet to $270 from $235, arguing that the DOJ monopoly remedy was "the best case outcome" and removed a medium-term overhang on valuation and sentiment. Most importantly, Alphabet will not divest Chrome or Android and can continue to pay Apple (AAPL) for Search users, the analyst told investors, adding that Google and Apple can now also partner on AI.

In its own note at the time that the court issued its remedy ruling in the Google search antitrust case, BofA raised the firm's price target on Alphabet to $252. The DOJ remedy uncertainty was one of "two big stock overhangs" and is now cleared, said the analyst, whose "top takeaway" was that the judgment preserved Google's ability to maintain its search distribution position through Traffic Acquisition Cost payments to partners. The firm, which thinks DOJ uncertainty clearing can allow Alphabet to close some of the current multiple gap versus history, raised its target based on unchanged an 2026 EPS forecast and a higher core EPS multiple.

PRICE HIKES: More recently, BofA raised the firm's price target on Alphabet to $280 from $252 and kept a Buy rating on the shares ahead of the company's earnings report. Checks point to Q3 ad spending ahead of expectations, says the analyst, who raised the firm's revenue estimate above Street consensus. BofA now expects Q3 revenue and EPS of $86.0B and $2.17, respectively.

In recent days, other analysts also have been raising their Alphabet price targets in advance of the earnings report.

Oppenheimer raised the firm's price target on Alphabet to $300 from $270 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. While the firm is positive on the long-term benefits from Meta's (META) push into AI and proven ability to outgrow peers, it is more bullish on Alphabet near term, given more conservative estimates and lower valuation despite not fully monetizing AI Mode or AI Overviews, the analyst stated.

JPMorgan raised the firm's price target on Alphabet to $300 from $260 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The favorable outcome in the Department of Justice search agreement trial "removed a major overhang," but Google is also delivering strong financial performance and innovating at the leading edge of artificial intelligence, the analyst tells investors. The firm says that while Alphabet's multiple discount to Meta has now closed, there remains "a lot to like about" Google, adding that it believes the shares "can go meaningfully higher from current levels."

KeyBanc also raised the firm's price target on Alphabet to $300 and kept an Overweight rating on the shares. The firm believes Q3 results should show that faster product velocity is driving momentum in Search, Cloud, and Waymo. Further, Alphabet's valuation does not appear demanding, with shares trading at a 1.5x next twelve months price-to-earnings premium to the S&P 500.

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