Shares of Google parent Alphabet passed $1,000 six days after Amazon.com crossed the same threshold, showing the sustained investor confidence that tech giants can outmatch older companies.
Amazon’s rise reflected a bullishness in e-commerce, coming despite bigger sales in brick-and-mortar retail. Likewise, Alphabet shareholders see that TV ad budgets will continue to gravitate online, where Google dominates.
Alphabet’s transition just two years ago to a portfolio structure has also buoyed investor confidence in the stock. Alphabet’s shares hit $1,003.76 at 12:18 pm in New York Monday, about a 38 per cent increase since August 2015 when Google became Alphabet earlier stage ventures from the core Internet business.
During that time, Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat oversaw cuts to the company’s massive spending bill and decelerations on some pricey initiatives, like its fiber broadband service and drones. Alphabet issued a rare share buyback last year.
Google’s primary ads business has kept expanding too, dodging any threat from the spread of mobile devices.