The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights Alphabet and Apple
Chicago, IL – July 18, 2025 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Alphabet GOOGL and Apple AAPL.
Here are highlights from Thursday's Analyst Blog:
Alphabet vs. Apple: Which Consumer AI Stock Is the Better Buy Right Now?
Alphabet and Apple are the two most well-known providers of consumer apps marketplaces through Google Pay Store and Apple App Store, respectively. The companies are taking initiatives to infuse artificial intelligence (AI) into their consumer-centric offerings to expand their user base and boost market share.
Unlike enterprises and businesses, individual consumers have been much cautious to adopt AI and generative AI (Gen AI) into their daily lifestyle and routines. Per a Bain & Company December 2024 survey, only 35% of U.S. consumers used Gen AI in comparison to 95% of U.S. and European companies. Concerns around privacy, accuracy and data security have hindered proliferation among individual consumers.
However, the scenario seems to have changed in the past six months of 2025. As per a latest report by Menlo Ventures, almost 61% of U.S. adults (survey sample of more than 5,000 U.S. adults) have used AI over the past six months, and nearly 19% have made it a habit to use it on a daily basis. Although monetization remains weak (only 3% paying for premium services among an estimated user base of 1.8 billion), the growing infusion of AI tools into consumer lifestyle that makes users complete their daily routine in a better, faster and cheaper way is expected to boost spending.
According to the New Minds, New Markets study by Cognizant in collaboration with Oxford Economics, the 18–44-year-old AI enthusiasts will "command an estimated $4.4 trillion of AI-influenced consumer spending in the U.S. by 2030," driven by a rise in income and purchasing power. For the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany, the projection stands at $690 billion, $669 billion, and $539 billion, respectively. Alphabet and Apple are well-poised to cultivate this huge opportunity.
Nevertheless, GOOGL or AAPL, which has an edge under the current scenario?
The Case for GOOGL Stock
Alphabet's open and cloud-centric approach has been driving the popularity of its applications among consumers. In first-quarter 2025, Alphabet surpassed 270 million paid subscriptions with YouTube and Google One as key drivers. Google Assistant, now called Gemini, is the #2-ranked general AI assistant in terms of usage (23% share) among all U.S. adults as per Menlo Ventures' survey, beating Apple Siri, which is in the #5 position (16% share).
Alphabet's initiatives to deploy AI and infuse AI in Search are driving top-line growth. Search revenues are driven by improving engagement with features like AI Overview, which now has 1.5 billion users per month and is available in more than 15 languages across 140 countries. The addition of AI mode expands AI Overview's advanced reasoning, thinking and multimodal capabilities. Advancements in the latest Gemini models are helping Alphabet to upgrade AI Overviews with easier-to-read responses, breaking down key information and incorporating more visuals directly into responses.
Circle to Search is driving additional Search and is gaining popularity among younger users. Circle to Search, which is currently available on more than 300 million Android devices, is expected to gain further popularity with the addition of AI Mode. Circle to Search can now be used to get instant help during gaming on mobile.
The Case for AAPL Stock
Apple is seeing better iPhone 16 sales in regions where Apple Intelligence is available. Apple expanded the availability of Apple Intelligence with iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS Sequoia 15.4 updates in new languages, including French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified) — as well as localized English for Singapore and India — and are accessible in nearly all regions around the world. At the end of 2025, Apple Intelligence will be available in eight more languages: Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (traditional) and Vietnamese.
New Apple Intelligence features, such as Live Translation, updates to visual intelligence, as well as enhancements to Image Playground and Genmoji, are noteworthy. Shortcuts can access Apple Intelligence directly. Apple Intelligence is now getting added to Apple Wallet, and users can make purchases with Apple Pay.
However, Apple Intelligence continues to lag the "WoW" factor, which has been a concern. Delayed and staggered launches are other concerns.
GOOGL Earnings Estimate Revision Positive, AAPL's Goes South
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for GOOGL's 2025 earnings is pegged at $9.56 per share, up 3 cents over the past 60 days, indicating an 18.91% increase over 2024's reported figure.
The consensus mark for Apple's fiscal 2025 earnings has declined by a penny to $7.10 per share over the past 60 days, suggesting 5.19% growth over fiscal 2024.
Alphabet Shares Outperform Apple
Shares of Alphabet and Apple have suffered from challenging macroeconomic conditions, volatility related to higher tariffs and increasing regulatory concerns. Year to date, GOOGL shares have lost 3.3%, outperforming Apple's decline of 16%.
Valuation: Alphabet's P/S Ratio is Cheaper Than Apple
In terms of forward 12-month Price/Sales (P/S), Apple shares are trading at 7.52X, higher than Alphabet's 6.41X.
While Apple has a Value Score of D, Alphabet carries a Value Score of C, suggesting both shares are overvalued.
Here's Why Alphabet Is a Better Consumer AI Stock Right Now
Alphabet is benefiting from the growing popularity of Gemini, AI Overview and Circle to Search among consumers. Continuous innovation across search, productivity and developer tools is a key catalyst for Alphabet. In comparison, Apple is still playing a catch-up role with Apple Intelligence.
Currently, Alphabet has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), making the stock a stronger pick compared with Apple, which has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Research Chief Names "Single Best Pick to Double"
From thousands of stocks, 5 Zacks experts each have chosen their favorite to skyrocket +100% or more in months to come. From those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all.
This company targets millennial and Gen Z audiences, generating nearly $1 billion in revenue last quarter alone. A recent pullback makes now an ideal time to jump aboard. Of course, all our elite picks aren't winners but this one could far surpass earlier Zacks' Stocks Set to Double like Nano-X Imaging which shot up +129.6% in little more than 9 months.
Free: See Our Top Stock And 4 Runners Up
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
5 Stocks Set to Double
Each was handpicked by a Zacks expert as the favorite stock to gain +100% or more in the months ahead. They include
Stock #1: A Disruptive Force with Notable Growth and Resilience
Stock #2: Bullish Signs Signaling to Buy the Dip
Stock #3: One of the Most Compelling Investments in the Market
Stock #4: Leader In a Red-Hot Industry Poised for Growth
Stock #5: Modern Omni-Channel Platform Coiled to Spring
Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor. While not all picks can be winners, previous recommendations have soared +171%, +209% and +232%.
Download Atomic Opportunity: Nuclear Energy's Comeback free today.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
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