Alphabet shares gain for a fifth straight session on Tuesday, Google’s search ad market share to shrink, eMarketer says

Data by market research company eMarketer showed on Tuesday that Alphabet Inc’s Google was still a dominant player in the search ad market in the United States, while Amazon.com Inc is likely to expand its presence fast.

Alphabet shares closed higher for a fifth consecutive trading session on NASDAQ on Tuesday. It has also been the sharpest daily surge since September 25th. The stock went up 2.13% ($25.87) to $1,243.01, after touching an intraday high at $1,246.94, or a price level not seen since September 25th ($1,248.30).

Shares of Alphabet Inc have risen 20.03% so far in 2019 compared with a 19.50% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

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

According to data by eMarketer, search ad market in the United States is expected to expand by almost 18% this year, while Alphabet’s Google is to have a market share of 73.1% and search revenue of $40.33 billion.

The market research company also said that Google’s market share was projected to diminish to 70.5% by the year 2021.

Amazon is currently the second-largest player in the search ad market with a share of 12.9% and search revenue of $7.09 billion. At the same time, Microsoft Corp, which was overtaken by Amazon in 2018, occupies the No. 3 spot with a market share of 6.5%.

“Polling suggests that most product searches now begin on Amazon, causing the No. 2 search player to grow rapidly and steal share from its larger rival,” eMarketer noted.

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 12.63% upside compared to the closing price of $1,243.01 on October 15th.

The same media also reported that at least 36 out of 44 surveyed investment analysts had rated Alphabet Inc’s stock as “Buy”, while 5 – as “Hold”.