| Metric | Q2 '24 | Q3 '24 | Q4 '24 | Q1 '25 | Q2 '25 | Q3 '25 | Q4 '25 | Q1 '26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $84.7B | $88.3B | $96.5B | $90.2B | $96.4B | $102.3B | $113.9B | $109.9B |
| Rev Growth (YoY) | 13.6% | 15.1% | 11.8% | 12.0% | 13.8% | 15.9% | 18.1% | ▲ 21.8% |
| Gross Margin | 58.1% | 58.7% | 57.9% | 59.7% | 59.5% | 59.6% | 59.8% | ▲ 62.4% |
| Operating Margin | 32.4% | 32.3% | 32.1% | 33.9% | 32.4% | 30.5% | 31.6% | ▲ 36.1% |
| EV/Sales | 26.7x | 23.2x | 24.0x | 20.9x | 22.3x | 28.8x | 33.4x | 32.1x |
Alphabet's Q1 2026 call was defined by an unmistakable tone of confidence and acceleration, with management projecting strength across every layer of the AI stack and analysts largely validating that posture through constructive, forward-looking questions rather than skeptical probing. Google Cloud's 63% revenue growth to $20 billion, a backlog that nearly doubled sequentially to $462 billion, and operating margin expansion to 32.9% gave Sundar Pichai and Anat Ashkenazi a platform to speak with unusual conviction about sustained CapEx escalation, explicitly guiding that 2027 CapEx will 'significantly increase' beyond the already-raised 2026 range of $180-190 billion. The dominant theme was vertical integration as competitive moat — Alphabet's ownership of TPU silicon, frontier models, and cloud infrastructure was repeatedly framed as a differentiated flywheel that competitors cannot easily replicate. Analyst sentiment was notably bullish, with questions focused on how to size the opportunity rather than whether it exists, and management's willingness to acknowledge near-term compute constraints as a demand signal rather than a structural problem reinforced that posture.