Latest news with #ColinSebastian
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Baird Lifts Amazon (AMZN) Price Target Ahead of Earnings, Citing New Growth Bets
Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is one of the AI Stocks Analysts Are Tracking Closely. On July 21, Baird analyst Colin Sebastian maintained an 'Outperform' on the stock and raised the price target from $220.00 to a new target of $244.00. The rating affirmation follows the firm updating its model. It now believes 'Amazon Space Platform' is another big long-term bet for the company. In other news, Wells Fargo reiterated Amazon, Alphabet, and Expedia as 'Equal Weight,' optimistic that all three stocks are the 'best tactical longs' ahead of earnings. 'See investors positioned much more aggressively in the SMidCaps and higher beta names, in stark contrast to last quarter where 'defense' was the mantra. Expect high volatility given positioning. See AMZN , GOOG and EXPE as best tactical longs.' Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is an American technology company offering e-commerce, cloud computing, and other services, including digital streaming and artificial intelligence solutions. While we acknowledge the potential of AMZN as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 10 AI Stocks Gaining Attention on Wall Street and 10 AI Stocks Investors Are Watching Closely. Disclosure: None.
Geek Wire
12-07-2025
- Business
- Geek Wire
Amazon, Google, Meta, and the AI long game, with Baird's Colin Sebastian
On this episode of the GeekWire Podcast, we're joined by Colin Sebastian, senior research analyst at Baird and one of the most respected voices in tech and internet investing. We dive into how Amazon, Google, and Meta are positioning themselves in the AI era — from Amazon's Alexa+ and infrastructure strategy, to Google's balancing act between search and generative chatbots, to Meta's AI talent push. Sebastian also shares his take on the broader investment climate, how he separates hype from lasting value, and how AI is reshaping his own research process. Plus, we get his outlook on the next wave in gaming, the signals he's watching in the data, and how today's AI boom compares to the dot-com era toward the start of his career. Listen below, and continue reading for highlights. AI vs. the dot-com era: 'Obviously there's a lot of hype, a lot of excitement around generative AI. But we don't have that situation where there are a lot of unprofitable companies. So I think it's a healthier situation this time around.' Amazon's strategic positioning: 'I do think Amazon views devices and conversational interfaces as very important strategically. … But the fact of the matter is, if OpenAI and other models want to be involved in e-commerce, they really have to tap into Amazon's marketplace.' Meta's AI ambitions: 'In five years, 10 years, what platform do people use to accompany them throughout the day, to answer questions, to complete tasks for them? [This is] why Meta feels like they have to have some of the best brains in data science and artificial intelligence. It's very important that Meta AI is one of the leading digital assistants, and I think that explains a lot of what they're doing.' Long-term demand for AI: 'What we can see is that companies are spending and they're spending more, and they plan to spend even more. We did a survey last month of 100 corporations, and 87% of them said they will increase spending on Gen AI over the next year — and a grand total of zero out of 100 said they would spend less.' Google's broad position in search: 'Google core search is losing share. They're likely even declining in the number of queries in markets like the US, but they're not standing still. They have AI Overviews, they have AI Mode, they have Gemini. And I think from that perspective, Google as a platform is still growing in terms of overall search.' The shifting e-commerce landscape: 'We did a survey of Gen Z consumers recently, and the number one tool they used to shop a year ago was TikTok, and this year it was ChatGPT. Three years ago it was Amazon, and five years ago it was Google. So first of all, it changes very quickly. … What's interesting from a user or even cultural perspective, is people really trust the answers.' The enduring secret to evaluating tech companies: 'What we emphasize to our clients, over and over again, is just how important engineering excellence and sophistication is. That's been probably the best metric, or common denominator among the best stocks or the best companies that I follow. … It's hard to evaluate in a given quarter, in a given year, but you can see it culturally. … I don't think that changes with AI.' Audio editing by Curt Milton.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Robotics May Be Alphabet's (GOOGL) Next Big Bet, Says Baird
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is one of the top 10 picks from Harvard University's stock portfolio. The stock's position in the portfolio was marginally up in Q1, and it accounted for around 9.8% of the portfolio weight. Following the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) conference held in mid-June, Baird's analyst Colin Sebastian published a note on June 20 highlighting a potentially underappreciated area of growth for Alphabet: robotics. While the company is best known for its core businesses in Search, YouTube, Android, Cloud, and hardware, Sebastian believes its efforts in robotics AI, particularly through DeepMind, could become a meaningful contributor over time. Google introduced its new Gemini Robotics AI stack at the event, designed to support physical robots capable of language understanding, visual processing, and real-world decision-making. Unlike current industrial robots, which are built for specific tasks, the next wave, enabled by systems like Gemini, aims to handle a broader range of functions with greater adaptability. The analyst compared the upcoming opportunity to the 'ChatGPT moment' for robots. Sebastian pointed out that the Gemini platform incorporates what he refers to as 'embodied reasoning', allowing the same software stack to be deployed across multiple hardware form factors. Demonstrations included robots performing nuanced actions such as folding paper or finding objects, tasks that require a deeper level of contextual understanding than traditional automation. He believes this technology could play a foundational role as physical AI adoption accelerates, potentially evolving into a core platform alongside Android and Google Cloud. While still early, the long-term market opportunity, estimated by some to be over $100 billion, positions Alphabet as a potential leader and a 'key enabler' in a rapidly emerging space that may include competition from companies like OpenAI, Amazon, Meta, and Tesla. Given this potential, Sebastian reiterated his Outperform rating on Alphabet shares and maintained a price target of $190. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is the parent company of Google and a pioneer in internet-related services and products, including online advertising technologies, search engines, cloud computing, software, and hardware. The company is also a leading investor in data centers and fiber networks, operating a vast global network of data centers that support its cloud services and other digital offerings. While we acknowledge the potential of GOOGL as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: The Best and Worst Dow Stocks for the Next 12 Months and 10 Best Tech Stocks to Buy According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Insider
29-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
‘Don't Overlook the Innovation Story,' Says Colin Sebastian About Alphabet Stock
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has long been the undisputed leader in internet search, but the rise of generative AI is beginning to raise questions about its continued dominance in the field. Confident Investing Starts Here: Against this backdrop, Baird's Colin Sebastian, an analyst ranked in the top 4% of Wall Street stock experts, attended the company's Google Marketing Live event and came away convinced that Alphabet is taking decisive steps to stay ahead of the curve. 'While there were 'breadcrumbs' that foreshadowed key announcements at Google Marketing Live, it's encouraging to witness the company innovating quickly in search, showing a commitment to monetization, and even taking aim at competitors in new ways,' the 5-star analyst said. 'While competition in search is intensifying, Google presented, in our view, a compelling suite of new ad products and agentic capabilities that can expand monetization and contribute incrementally to revenues.' Google announced a deeper integration of AI into its core search advertising platform, including the expansion of ad placements within AI Overviews (AIO). This means that both search and shopping ads will now appear directly in AI-generated summaries on desktop browsers in the U.S. Additionally, the company is introducing ad formats specifically designed for AI Mode, tailored to fit the more conversational and context-aware nature of AI-powered search experiences. 'Importantly,' adds Sebastian, 'these newer formats should help expand search advertising and reach into middle- and upper-funnel consumer journeys, directly contradicting the bearish view that new AI formats will simply disintermediate core search.' Sebastian thinks that advertisers will be quick to adopt these new ad formats, especially as Google has indicated that monetization tests are performing similarly to traditional search ads. Over time, the analyst believes these formats could lead to higher conversion rates for commerce and retail advertisers. In addition, advertisers running Performance Max and shopping campaigns will be able to access the new formats effortlessly. For users, the key will be Google's ability to match relevant ads with the context of longer, more detailed search queries, allowing users to find answers, including ad content, directly within the AI search experience without needing to scroll to traditional website links. As is typical for Google, the company is also introducing enhanced measurement and analytics tools, including new agentic capabilities to help marketers streamline and automate tasks. 'While many investors remain skeptical in our conversations,' notes Sebastian, 'Google also continues to report growth in queries where AI Overviews are shown, and Gen-Zers are the most active search cohorts.' So, what's the bottom line for investors? Sebastian is backing Alphabet shares with an Outperform (i.e., Buy) rating and a $190 price target, implying a potential upside of 10% over the next year. (To watch Sebastian's track record, click here) Wall Street at large is also bullish. GOOGL carries a Strong Buy consensus rating, based on 29 Buy recommendations and 9 Holds. The average price target stands slightly higher at $199.14, suggesting the stock could climb ~15% in the coming months. (See GOOGL stock forecast) To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks' Best Stocks to Buy, a tool that unites all of TipRanks' equity insights.
Mint
23-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
As Google Embraces AI, One Stock Is Losing Out. Others Are at Risk.
Reddit stock has dropped about 40% this year. Reddit stock has taken a beating as investors worry how Google's new artificial-intelligence search features could dent the social-media platform's traffic. Other companies like Pinterest could also take a hit. Reddit stock has dropped 40% so far this year, even though the company reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue growth for its March quarter. This comes as growth in daily active users slows while Alphabet's Google updates its search functions. Google has been under a lot of pressure in recent months to prove it can be a winner in the AI search race. That's been more of a challenge than one might expect for the longtime search leader, because generative-AI chat bots like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Perplexity attract new users with quick, detailed, and conversational answers to user questions. One way Google has tried to combat this is through the introduction of AI Overviews, or AI-generated answers to search queries that appear on the top of the page. These AI Overviews pose a challenge for companies like Reddit, which rely on gaining traffic by users who click on their links in Google search. Things just got more complicated for Reddit and its peers, too. Google announced on Tuesday that it's integrating AI into its search engine through AI Mode—which will give users the ability to ask more complicated queries versus traditional searches in a conversational chatbot interface. Baird analyst Colin Sebastian wrote in a Tuesday research note that the launch of AI Mode 'will provide answers to questions that users might otherwise click-through to Reddit links for more details.' He lowered his price target on Reddit to $120 from $140 while maintaining a Neutral rating on the stock. Reddit directed Barron's to Reddit CEO Steven Huffman's comments on the company's May 1 earnings call. 'We do expect some bumps along the way from Google because we've already seen a few this year,' he said at the time, adding that as the 'search ecosystem is under heavy construction, the near term could be more bumpy than usual.' Reddit stock dropped 2.2% on Tuesday and 9.3% on Wednesday following Google's announcement, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.4% and 1.6% on those days, respectively. Reddit stock was gaining back some of those losses on Thursday, rising 4% to $99.64. Reddit isn't the only company that could see further slowdown in active users following this Google update. Photo-sharing platform Pinterest could see a decline in traffic if Google's AI Mode shows users pictures that stop them from needing to look at Pinterest posts. 'Our ability to maintain and increase the number of users directed to our platform from search engines is not within our control,' Pinterest said in its Risk Factor section of its most recent annual 10-K filing in February. 'Search engines, such as Google, have and may continue to modify their search algorithms…and policies or enforce those policies in ways that are detrimental to us.' Shares of online education company Chegg have fallen sharply this year. The company alleged back in February that the rise of AI Overviews have 'had a profound impact on Chegg's traffic, revenue, and workforce.' This led Chegg to sue Google. The latest AI Mode update can't be good news for the textbook seller moving forward. Chegg and Google both didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. AI Mode still hasn't been fully rolled out in the U.S., so now is the time for investors to decide whether the risk is worth taking for stocks that rely on Google clicks. Write to Angela Palumbo at
