Google Stock Rose Because Generative AI May Increase Search Traffic According to Citi

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Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

On Monday, Citi Group, Inc., an investment company, said it is “incrementally confident” that Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) search traffic will increase as a result of advances in generative artificial intelligence. As a result, Google stock surged.

The rise of generative AI is unlikely to have a “material” impact on Google, according to analyst Ronald Josey, who also argued that the industry stands to benefit as large language models become more vertical and query costs decrease. Josey set a $120 price target on Google stock.

In an investor note, Josey, referring to Microsoft’s search engine, said, “To be sure, it remains early days overall, but we note traffic to ChatGPT eclipsed Bing in Feb/March.” Despite this, Bing saw a 21% year-over-year increase in March, and Google saw a 3% increase despite the news flow.

Josey also said that Google’s Chrome browser had around 65% of the market share at the end of March, roughly the same as a year earlier. He attributed this to the “strategic importance of the text box.”

According to checks done by the industry, search advertising did “relatively well” during the time in question. The analyst noted that he would be watching for any updates on Bard when Alphabet publishes results for the first quarter on April 25. This is because search ads performed “relatively well” in the period.

Most market watchers believe that Alphabet will report earnings of $1.07 per share on sales of $68.83 billion.

The search and digital advertising market, the utilization of YouTube Shorts and how the monetization process is progressing, innovation in advertising, spending management, and the possibility for a new repurchase are other noteworthy aspects of Alphabet’s first-quarter financial results.

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