There are questions about Google’s future, but we’re still buying

Many smart money advocates, such as Madison Investors’ Haruki Toyama, believe that concerns about a competitive threat to Google’s search industry from AI competitors are overblown: “The impact is likely to be relatively small given the type of searches that logically that AI generative queries are not the type that make good money anyway.”

Even if the deal with Apple had to end, it’s very likely that most users would still choose to download Google. In this case, the consolation for Alphabet is that it won’t be paying Apple billions of dollars a year for the privilege.

“We believe this particular (regulatory) solution will have a positive impact on Alphabet’s financial results,” said James Ford, an equity analyst at Charles Stanley’s wealth management firm.

Elsewhere, Alphabet has impressive products and services that should sustain strong revenue and profit growth in the coming years. The Chrome browser, the YouTube video platform, the Android mobile operating system and Google Maps dominate their fields and underpin the company’s enormous value.

Its cloud computing business lags behind Amazon and Microsoft, but it has become a major force in a growing market with luscious profits to be made.