This year has been marked by uncertainty and volatility for markets, especially the tech sector, as investors have grown more cautious about Big Tech’s significant AI capital spending. Alphabet GOOGL has also seen its momentum slow down, gaining about 66% in 2025 but adding only around 7.5% so far in 2026.
However, September, which has historically been a challenging month for stocks due to the so-called “September Effect,” appears to be off to a more encouraging start for Alphabet.
Despite falling about 1.05% over the past five trading sessions and 7.8% over the past month, GOOGL gained roughly 0.4% on Wednesday and was up another 0.5% in premarket trading on Thursday. The recent strength suggests that the sentiment toward the tech giant may be improving, potentially setting the stage for a broader rebound in GOOGL.
Recent developments are further strengthening the case for Alphabet’s momentum. Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel has publicly expressed confidence in Alphabet’s AI position, while Google introduced its Gemini 3.8 Flash model recently. The tech giant also secured a favorable outcome in the case involving its advertising technology business, easing regulatory concerns and adding another tailwind for the stock.
Berkshire’s Abel Signals Confidence in Alphabet
Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B CEO Greg Abel has also expressed confidence in Alphabet’s position in the rapidly evolving AI landscape, calling it a winner in AI. Speaking with CNBC, Abel described Alphabet as a “significant player” in AI and also highlighted that Google is strongly positioned in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.
Berkshire’s portfolio activity reinforces that optimism. The company added roughly $17 billion of Alphabet shares in the second quarter, making Alphabet the largest addition to its equity portfolio during the period and its third-largest holding, as quoted on the abovementioned CNBC article.
Berkshire’s latest filing shows an approximately $36.6 billion stake in the tech giant, underscoring its growing conviction in the company.
Gemini 3.8 Flash Looks to Add Another Tailwind for Alphabet
On Wednesday, Google unveiled Gemini 3.8, which the company touted as its most capable reasoning and coding model yet. The company also said the new model maintains the speed and low cost of its predecessor, Gemini 3.7.
Google introduced two variants of its new Gemini 3.8 model, Gemini 3.8 Flash and Gemini 3.8 Flash Cyber. Gemini 3.8 Flash brings significant improvements over Gemini 3.7 across software engineering, agentic tasks and complex reasoning, while Gemini 3.8 Flash Cyber focuses on cybersecurity applications, including vulnerability detection and automated patching, making it available to trusted cybersecurity defenders through its new Fairwind Program.
In addition to the software improvements, the low cost of Gemini 3.8 could be another key factor supporting its appeal. According to another CNBC article, Gemini 3.8 Flash carries the same introductory price as its predecessor, at 75 cents per million input tokens and $3.75 per million output tokens, despite significant improvements in coding, agentic tasks and reasoning.
Google is also highlighting the cost advantages of its new cybersecurity offering. Tulsee Doshi, senior director of product management at Google DeepMind, said the company is excited to offer a solution at a fraction of the cost and with much faster performance, while still delivering frontier-level capabilities, as quoted on the CNBC article.
Google Scores Another Win in Ad Tech Battle
The tech giant’s prospects for renewed momentum also received a boost from a favorable regulatory development. According to the CNBC article mentioned earlier, a favorable ruling in the Justice Department’s ad-tech antitrust case allowed Google to retain its AdX exchange, with the court choosing behavioral remedies over the structural breakup sought by regulators.
The ruling provided further support for Google’s advertising business, which remains a key growth driver. The business grew 14% in the last reported quarter. It serves as a powerful cash engine for the company.
Into GOOGL’s Stock Outlook
Alphabet currently has an average brokerage recommendation (ABR) of 1.20 on a scale of 1 to 5 (Strong Buy to Strong Sell), calculated based on the actual recommendations made by 55 brokerage firms. While the ABR is unchanged from a month ago, it has improved from 1.30 two months ago, signaling increasingly favorable analyst sentiment toward the tech giant.
Of the 55 recommendations deriving the current ABR, 48 are Strong Buy and three are Buy. Strong Buy and Buy, respectively, account for 87.27% and 5.45% of all recommendations. While the recommendations remain unchanged from a month ago, Strong Buy recommendations have increased from 81.5% two months ago, indicating improving bullish sentiment among analysts toward Alphabet.
Based on short-term price targets offered by 51 analysts, the average price target for Alphabet comes to $432.26, representing an increase of 28.22% from its current level, with forecasts ranging from a low of $350.00 to a high of $515.00. Currently, GOOGL stock is priced at $337.12 (as of market close on Sept. 2) and has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), along with a Growth Score of B.
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
ETFs to Tap Into Alphabet’s Momentum
Here, we have highlighted ETFs with heavy exposure to Alphabet.
Global X PureCap MSCI Communication Services ETF GXPC has an exposure of 30.79% to GOOGL.
Defiance AI Hyperscale Leaders ETF AIHY has an exposure of 18.93% to GOOGL.
Vanguard Communication Services ETF VOX has an exposure of 15.08% to GOOGL.
VanEck Communication Services TruSector ETF TRUC has an exposure of 14.02% to GOOGL.
Fidelity MSCI Communication Services Index ETF FCOM has an exposure of 13.88% to GOOGL.
VOX is both the largest and the most liquid option among the above-mentioned funds, with a one-month average trading volume of 253,000 shares and an asset base of $5.67 billion. Regarding charging annual fees, FCOM is the cheapest option, charging 0.08%.
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Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL): Free Stock Analysis Report
Vanguard Communication Services Index Fund ETF Shares (VOX): ETF Research Reports
Fidelity MSCI Communication Services Index ETF (FCOM): ETF Research Reports
Global X PureCap MSCI Communication Services ETF (GXPC): ETF Research Reports
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).