Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) released earnings Monday after the close and sent the stock soaring. The earnings release from the company stated earnings per share (or EPS) of $8.67 versus the analysts estimates of $8.08. Revenue also beat handily as Q4 revenue came in at $21.33 billion, while the street only expected $20.77 billion. The conference call further revealed that revenue from YouTube and mobile helped drive the growth. Investors flocked to the stock after hours, driving it up over 5%. If this pop in value holds it successfully knocks Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) out of the top spot for the worlds most valuable publicly traded company. Apple has struggled recently as investors search to find what will drive its next phase of growth. Add to that its increasing debt load, along with a controversial dividend payment arrangement and you have the perfect environment for a new leader.
Looking further into Alphabets growth prospects one can conclude that there are many avenues for continued success. Alphabet has dominated the mobile space and continues to be as nimble as a start-up. This is one reason analysts believe that GOOG will continue to be a highly competitive growth stock. In addition we cant overlook what the company calls "moon shot ventures" which are smaller ventures that have very little to do with the company's core business. These ventures represent some rather large bets on the future that, if successful, could fuel growth exponentially. With Google Fiber, and self driving cars in the company's "moon shot" portfolio one could certainly imagine the growth opportunities.