Alphabet's (GOOG, GOOGL) Google is poised to outperform expectations in Q2, but factors such as the upcoming legal antitrust decision in August and investor skepticism on AI investment could bear down on the near-term outlook, RBC Capital said in a Monday note.
The tech giant will likely surpass Street expectations of 9% growth in its Search segment, where third-party data indicates a "couple hundred" basis points of upside, RBC analysts said. The YouTube and Cloud segments are also expected to see stable growth, albeit slightly slower compared with previous periods, at 27% and 10% to 11%, respectively, they added.
Meanwhile, Judge Amit Mehta is set to give his decision in August regarding the company's penalties resulting from antitrust violations. RBC expects that most outcomes, save for a divestiture of the Chrome browser, will have a "relatively small impact" on Google's distribution and the use of tis products.
The analysts also said they expect a 5% to 10% loss of total users given the "stickiness" of Google's products, and a low-single-digit headwind would be "the most likely path forward."
RBC has an outperform rating on the company stock, with a price target of $200.
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