Alphabet price target raised to $185 from $172 at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer raised the firm’s price target on Alphabet (GOOG) to $185 from $172 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. Following its 1K person survey on Search/AI user behavior, the firm thinks Alphabet’s shares remain attractive ahead of Q1 results and potential Gemini update at May Google I/O event given derisked model, discount to NASDAQ, and mixed/bearish investor sentiment. Oppenheimer’s survey indicates search remains the best at satisfying consumer use cases, with genAI a complement vs. substitute to search, and survey also indicates Google’s search dominance would continue if government ended Apple (AAPL) exclusivity agreement. Furthermore, results suggest potential Alphabet/Apple Gemini integration would meaningfully increase the number of searches, with 53% of respondents indicating they would use voice search more than text search today, the firm adds.