Key insights
- Citizens maintains an outperform rating on Alphabet (GOOGL) despite Waymo's slower-than-expected vehicle deployment. The analyst cites growth potential from AI and cloud services. Google's Gemma AI model launch and Apple's hiring of a former Google AI executive are also noted, suggesting ongoing competition and investment in the AI space.
Investing.com - Citizens maintains its Market Outperform rating on Alphabet stock (NASDAQ:GOOGL) following a disclosure from the company’s autonomous vehicle unit. The tech giant, with a market capitalization of $3.57 trillion, has delivered a remarkable 104% return over the past year.
Waymo Co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov revealed on the Cheeky Pint podcast that the unit has approximately 3,000 vehicles on the road. The figure compares to 2,700 vehicles reported in November, according to Bloomberg.
Citizens analyst Andrew Boone noted the increase appears modest given Waymo’s transition to its sixth-generation autonomous driving system. The new vehicles come equipped with pre-installed sensor punch-outs and duplicate safety features including steering, braking and drivetrain components.
The analyst said the pace of vehicle production has not yet accelerated despite the manufacturing improvements. Citizens had expected the pre-installed features to speed up deployment of new vehicles.
Waymo operates as a subsidiary of Alphabet, which trades on the Nasdaq exchange.
In other recent news, Alphabet Inc. announced the resignation of Amie Thuener O’Toole from her roles as Vice President, Corporate Controller, and Principal Accounting Officer, effective April 9, 2026. The company noted that her departure is to pursue another professional opportunity and is not due to any disagreements with Alphabet. In a separate development, Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet, launched the Gemma 4 open-source AI models under the Apache 2.0 license. The new models have been downloaded over 400 million times, with the 31B model ranking as the third-best open model globally on the Arena AI text leaderboard.
Meanwhile, Citizens reiterated its Market Outperform rating on Alphabet stock, highlighting the growth potential from AI-powered tools and cloud services. Additionally, Apple has appointed Lilian Rincon, a former Google executive, as Vice President of Product Marketing for artificial intelligence. Rincon’s experience at Google included overseeing shopping and assistant products. These developments reflect significant movements within the tech industry and Alphabet’s ongoing strategic initiatives.
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