TLDR
- Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest bought ~$14M of Alphabet stock just hours before Q1 earnings.
- Wall Street expects overall revenue of $107B, up 19% year-over-year.
- Cloud segment sales forecast to rise 47%, with operating income up 120%.
- EPS expected to fall to $2.63 from last year, due to a tough comparison period.
- Ad sales still make up 71% of revenue, expected to hit $76B, up 14%.
Cathie Wood made a bold last-minute move on Tuesday, buying 40,656 Alphabet stock units through the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), worth roughly $14.17 million â just hours before the company’s Q1 earnings report.
Alphabet reports after market close today, Wednesday, April 29.
Wood’s purchase came after Alphabet has already had a strong run â up 12% year-to-date and 118% over the past year. The timing suggests she sees the earnings as a potential catalyst rather than a risk.
Options traders are pricing in a move of around 5.67% in either direction following the results.
Wall Street, polled by FactSet, expects total revenue of $107 billion for Q1, up 19% from the same period last year. Cloud is leading that growth story.
Google Cloud segment sales are forecast to jump 47% year-over-year. Operating income from the cloud unit is expected to expand by 120%. Last quarter, cloud sales were already up 48% with operating profit surging 154%.
The Ad Business Still Runs the Show
Despite the cloud buzz, advertising remains the backbone of Alphabet’s business. Ad revenue is expected to account for 71% of total Q1 revenue â around $76 billion, up 14% on the year.
Google Search and YouTube are the main drivers. The company’s third-party ad network business continues to shrink, but it’s not enough to dent the overall ad numbers.
EPS is expected to come in at $2.63, down from last year. That drop isn’t a red flag â it’s largely a math problem. In Q1 2025, Alphabet received a one-time 62-cent-per-share noncash boost from rising valuations in its venture capital portfolio. That won’t repeat.
Alphabet’s $185 Billion Bet
The bigger question hanging over today’s report is whether Alphabet can keep justifying its massive capital spending.
The company has committed up to $185 billion in AI-related capital expenditure for 2026 â covering both internal use and capacity for Google Cloud customers.
CEO Sundar Pichai acknowledged during the Q4 call that the company has been “supply constrained even as we’ve been ramping up capacity,” framing the spending as an investment in future demand.
Each quarter now carries extra scrutiny. Investors want to see that the cloud growth is keeping pace with what’s being spent to build it.
Wood isn’t the only one leaning in. ARK also added over $18M in CoreWeave on Tuesday â another AI infrastructure play â suggesting the firm is broadly positioning for AI spending to accelerate.
Intellia Therapeutics was another ARK buy ahead of its own earnings Thursday. On the selling side, ARK trimmed its Bullish position, offloading about $1.07M worth after the stock climbed 2.34% on Tuesday.
Alphabet’s Q1 results are due after the bell today.
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