What happened
Shares of Alphabet (GOOG 0.20%) (GOOGL 0.41%) were moving higher for the second day in a row today as investors continued to respond favorably to the company's I/O conference yesterday, where it released several new products and talked up artificial intelligence (AI) features across a range of products.
A number of analysts also weighed in on the event, giving it favorable reviews.
As of 12:53 p.m. ET today, the stock was up 5% after gaining 4% yesterday.
NASDAQ: GOOG
Key Data Points
So what
Alphabet introduced a number of new products at the event, including the Pixel 7a smartphone, starting at $499; the Pixel Fold, a new foldable smartphone; and a Pixel tablet.
Investors seemed more excited about its new AI features and improvements to Search, its core product, and the source of a majority of its profits. The company said it was introducing a Perspectives filter for Search, allowing users to see more-specific user-generated content on that subject.
The company also said it was "supercharging search" with new generative AI capabilities, and it announced Search Labs, a way to test the company's new products, including those based on AI. It's also adding AI features to Workspace, the product suite that includes Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
Analysts responded favorably to the announcements in several notes out today. Jefferies described the presentation as a "full frontal attack" that made up for a disappointing launch of Bard AI, its competitor to ChatGPT, back in February. Oppenheimer also said the conference relieved some investor frustration over a seeming lack of AI innovation.
Now what
Defending its market share in search is the most crucial objective for Alphabet at this point, and it seems to be doing that, according to analyst data and a report by the website The Information showing that Microsoft has been frustrated with a lack of market-share gain in Bing.
It's unclear yet if the AI investments will boost the bottom line, but investors are clearly pleased that the company is rolling out AI products, since Alphabet has developed a reputation for complacency in recent years.
