Ahead of Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG GOOGL first-quarter earnings, analysts expect the tech giant to report growth in advertising revenue, potentially leading to an “earnings surprise.”

Analyst Insights: Louis Navellier, Chairman and Founder of Navellier & Associates, recently shared his predictions for Alphabet’s first-quarter performance in the podcast ‘Market Buzz.’ He noted that sales are predicted to increase by 10.7%, with earnings projected to grow by 7%. Despite Alphabet’s lack of guidance, Navellier emphasized the company’s strong history of unexpectedly positive earnings.

March’s robust retail sales figures should support an increase in Google’s advertising revenue during the quarter. Navellier stated, “Given that March had the strongest retail sales in two years, I believe Google’s advertising revenue will show significant growth.”

However, Alphabet faces legal hurdles. A recent ruling from a U.S. District Judge mandated the Department of Justice’s victory in an antitrust case against Google, determining that the company had unlawfully monopolized advertising technology.

The ruling highlighted Google’s anticompetitive practices over the past decade, specifically the bundling of its publisher ad server and ad exchange to secure its monopoly in open-web display advertising markets.

Navellier remarked, “The potential break-up of Google poses a unique challenge for the company. It’s akin to a dog catching a car; the next steps are uncertain.” He anticipated that Google may attempt to appease regulatory demands by possibly spinning off its Chrome browser, but he ultimately remains optimistic about Alphabet’s usual performance.

Impact of Upcoming Earnings: Alphabet is slated to report its first-quarter earnings on April 24. Technical indicators show that its premarket share price stood at $157.66, placing it above short-term simple daily moving averages but below longer-term averages. The relative strength index (RSI) was at 43.78, indicating a neutral position, while the MACD line was recorded at negative 4.04. Positive trends are indicated by the 12-day exponential moving average (EMA) being above the 26-day EMA, with a favorable histogram reading of 0.47.

Currently, the stock shows a 2.44% increase in premarket trading but has seen a 19.27% decline year-to-date and a 3.76% decrease over the year.

Market Trends: Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings indicate that GOOG has demonstrated a weaker price trend across short, medium, and long-term indicators. Its momentum ranking stood at the 48.43 percentile, while its value ranking was also moderate. Additional metrics are available here.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY and the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF QQQ have also seen gains in premarket trading. The SPY increased by 2.50% to $540.42, while the QQQ rose 3.20% to $457.91, per Benzinga Pro data.

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