$700 billion can't even lift Alphabet-C, all because AI is progressing too slowly?

On Wednesday, before the US stock market opened, Alphabet-C-C-C-C's stock price fell more than 1%.

Overall performance was better than expected, but the progress in large-scale stock buybacks and AI did not drive the stock price higher.

Alphabet-C announces $70 billion buyback

Alphabet-C's parent company, Alphabet-C-C-C-C, reported first-quarter revenue of $69.79 billion, higher than the expected $68.89 billion. Earnings per share were $1.17, while FactSet's general expectation was $1.08.

First-quarter advertising revenue was slightly lower at $54.55 billion, including $6.69 billion in YouTube advertising revenue.

Alphabet-C also announced a $70 billion stock buyback.

Alphabet-C-C-C-C's cloud business revenue grew 28% to $7.41 billion.

Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat said, "The outlook remains uncertain," and the performance reflects the continued adverse factors brought about by the challenging economic environment.

Alphabet-C doubles down on AI

CEO Sundar Pichai said at the earnings conference, "Alphabet-C has launched important product updates based on deep computer science and artificial intelligence."

"North Star is providing users with the most helpful answers, seeing huge opportunities in the future, and continuing on the path of long-term innovation."

During the quarterly earnings conference call, Pichai praised Alphabet-C's investment in artificial intelligence and listed the current and future applications of the technology, such as better search and better advertising features.

Porat said that measures are being taken to slow the rate of growth in operating expenses, while creating space for investment in artificial intelligence and other key areas.

Does Alphabet-C have more potential?

Rosenblatt Securities analyst Barton Crockett rated Alphabet-C-C-C-C as a buy with a target price of $128.

He pointed out that cost cutting will continue to be a major theme for large technology companies. Alphabet-C said that this quarter includes $2.6 billion in costs related to layoffs and office space reductions.

Although concerns about Microsoft integrating ChatGPT artificial intelligence into Bing have made many headlines, Crockett is not too worried about Alphabet-C-C-C-C's own AI efforts.

He wrote, "Surveys show that Alphabet-C and Bing's search share has not changed significantly so far this year, and Alphabet-C still dominates." "However, we believe that Alphabet-C is a joint force that can ultimately achieve overwhelming power in artificial intelligence, even if it starts slowly."