Google’s Stock Suffers Amid Showdown with US Authorities: Wall Street Patient, Retail Investors On The Fence

Shares of Alphabet Inc (GOOG, GOOGL) were trading over 2% lower on Wednesday after the US Department of Justice (DOJ) proposed “behavioral and structural remedies” to correct Google’s monopoly over the search and advertising markets.

The 32-page document includes a number of recommendations on how this can be done, including the potential sale of Chrome, Android or Google Play to dilute Alphabet’s monopoly. 

In a response on its blog post late Tuesday, Google argued that the DOJ’s proposal goes “far beyond the specific legal issues in this case,” and that it will have “unintended consequences” for everyone involved.

Most of Wall Street remains muted in its response to recent developments. Financial analysts like KeyBanc, Cantor Fitzgerald and Bernstein have maintained their ‘neutral’ rating on the stock amid DOJ actions, citing “clarity on antitrust rulings”.

Daniel Ives, senior equity analyst at Wedbush Securities, told Bloomberg that a break-up of the company “is unlikely at this point despite the antitrust swirls.” Legal experts argue that the more likely outcome is that the court will ask the company to end certain exclusive agreements it has with companies like Apple and Samsung.

For the Class C shares of Alphabet, retail sentiment on Stocktwits shifted into the ‘neutral’ territory (48/100) from ‘bearish’ a day ago, accompanied by ‘extremely high’ chatter (80/100).

Google is not alone in its tussle with the US authorities. Amazon (AMZN), Apple (APPL), and Meta (META) are also gearing up to face their own monopolization lawsuits from the US government. Google has another pending trial against the DOJ scheduled for later this year over a separate challenge of its advertising technology business.

Alphabet’s stock is up about 18% this year, showcasing resilience amid regulatory and market pressures in both the US and Europe.

For updates and corrections email newsroom@stocktwits.com.

Read more: Alphabet, Snap Stocks In Focus As European Commission Wants To Dig Into YouTube, Snapchat Algorithms: Retail Unfazed For Now