Alphabet shares hit a two-month high on Tuesday, Google achieves victory in ‘right to be forgotten’ case with France’s CNIL

Alphabet’s Google has achieved victory against stricter “right to be forgotten” rules, after the European Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday that the tech company would not have to remove links to sensitive personal data internationally. As a result, France’s demand has been rejected.

Alphabet shares closed lower for the fourth time in the past eleven trading sessions on NASDAQ on Tuesday. It has also been the steepest daily loss since September 3rd. The stock went down 1.24% ($15.27) to $1,218.76, after touching an intraday high at $1,246.65, or a price level not seen since July 29th ($1,247.37).

Shares of Alphabet Inc have risen 17.69% so far in 2019 compared with an 18.34% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2018, Alphabet’s stock went down 1.03%, thus, it outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 6.24% loss.

“Currently, there is no obligation under EU law, for a search engine operator who grants a request for de-referencing made by a data subject… to carry out such a de-referencing on all the versions of its search engine,” the European Court of Justice stated.

“However, EU law requires a search engine operator to carry out such a de-referencing on the versions of its search engine corresponding to all the (EU) member states,” the EU top court said.

”It’s good to see that the court agreed with our arguments,” Google said in response to the ruling.

In 2016, Google was fined EUR 100 000 by the French data privacy regulatory body, Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés (CNIL), since the company refused to delist sensitive information from internet search results worldwide upon request. The case was taken to the French Council of State, after which the latter turned to the European Court of Justice for advice.

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to CNN Money, the 41 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Alphabet Inc’s stock price, have a median target of $1,400.00, with a high estimate of $1,712.76 and a low estimate of $1,225.00. The median estimate represents a 14.87% upside compared to the closing price of $1,218.76 on September 24th.

The same media also reported that at least 35 out of 44 surveyed investment analysts had rated Alphabet Inc’s stock as “Buy”, while 6 – as “Hold”.