Alphabet share price: what to expect from Q1 results

Google parent Alphabet is set to announce its Q1 earnings next week. Alphabet’s Q1 revenue has to answer these three questions from investors.

Could Amazon cause a decline for Alphabet’s Q1 earnings?

Though Google is the most dominant search engine, its main competition is Amazon. According to Hubspot, when customers search for products to buy online, 44% of shoppers go directly to Amazon while 33% look at Google first. Amazon is capitalising on that advantage by investing heavily in its own paid search advertising business. With Amazon’s digital advertising catching up with Google, Alphabet’s Q1 results could be affected.

Will EU fines hurt Alphabet's Q1 results?

Google’s parent Alphabet was hit by a $1.7 billion fine from the European Union(EU) resulting from accusations of anticompetitive practices. The levy was the third in as many years for the corporation. The EU charged Google with forcing websites using Google to show ads that link to the company. The multibillion dollar fine could greatly affect Alphabet’s Q1 revenue.

Will Waymo and 'Other Bets' impact Alphabet's Q1 profits?

While Google is the most prominent part of Alphabet, the company’s other businesses could also influence Alphabet’s Q1 profits. The underperformance of Alphabet’s additional ventures like the Pixel smartphone in its Q4 2018 earnings report could impact Alphabet’s Q1 revenue. The corporation’s self-driving car Waymo has been a focus of the company’s ‘Other Bets.’ Chief financial officer(CFO), Ruth Porat, talked about plans for the vehicle’s recent launch in the US.

‘We're focused on expanding both the number of riders and the geographic reach around Phoenix. In addition, we're having conversations with a number of other interested cities. And we are continuing to explore applying our technology for logistics and deliveries and for personal use vehicles and for last mile solutions for cities,’ said Porat.

Waymo will also try to compete with other vehicle companies like Tesla by increasing production of the car in Detroit. Waymo’s performance as a self-autonomous automobile could have an effect on Alphabet’s Q1 revenue.

Alphabet’s Q1 earnings could depend on these three important factors. Investors will see if Google’s strength as a search engine and cloud service continue to grow.