Shares of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, dropped close to 3 percent on Friday, the sharpest decline in nearly two months.
One potential culprit: An analyst note from Citigroup that predicts a drop in search ads — the cornerstone of the entire Alphabet business — in the second quarter. After polling search ad marketers, Citigroup noted a “slight deceleration” in spending that could spell a miss in Google’s revenue, a repeat of last quarter.
For years now, Google has faced a steady decline in the amount it brings in per ad click, thanks largely to more mobile devices, but it has kept steady sales growth up enough to appease Wall Street.
Worth noting: Citigroup only polled two firms, which control around $5 billion in annual spending; Google brought in $16 billion in ad sales during just the second quarter last year. And stocks trended downward for most big tech companies today, so it’s hard to peg the singular decline to the report.
Plus, the Citigroup note ends with a “buy” option on Alphabet, writing that its valuation is still “attractive.” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯