GOOG Lifts on Wedbush Price Target and Broader AI Optimism

Wedbush maintained a Buy rating on Alphabet and lifted its price target to $350, reinforcing positive analyst sentiment.
Reddit discussion highlighted GOOG's resistance at $305, with a recovery near $310 seen as a potential turning point.
The Motley Fool published a bullish long-term thesis projecting Alphabet could double by 2030 on AI-driven ad growth.

Alphabet Inc.

$GOOG found itself in the spotlight on Friday, December 19, fueled by a fresh analyst upgrade, an encouraging technical setup, and a growing sense that the Christmas rally may be taking shape. Retail investors on Reddit weighed the stock's near-term resistance levels against a flurry of longer-term bullish calls, driving

$GOOG to the No. 6 spot in TendieBot's trending tickers ranking with a sentiment score of 0.5875.

Analyst Boost Sets the Table

The most direct catalyst came from r/stocks, where users took note of Wedbush analyst Scott Devitt maintaining a Buy rating on

$GOOG and raising his price target from $320 to $350. With an overall win rate near 50% and an average return of 12.3% over the past year, Devitt's call resonated in a market looking for signs of direction. The thread attracted 65 upvotes and 26 comments, making it one of the most engaged

$GOOG-specific posts of the day.

The bullish analyst action aligned with a broader narrative published Friday by The Motley Fool, which predicted Alphabet could double over the next five years. The article cited the company's 26% compound annual net-income growth over the past half-decade and forecast 17% yearly EPS expansion through 2027, anchored by AI-enhanced digital advertising — a business that still accounts for 75% of Alphabet's revenue.

GOOG

Technical Chatter on Reddit

A separate r/stocks post — the highest upvoted

$GOOG-related thread with 133 upvotes and 110 comments — framed Alphabet in the context of a potential Christmas rally. The author identified resistance at $305 and said a rebound near $310 would turn the stock bullish, warning traders to remain cautious below that level. The broader post surveyed other mega-caps such as

$NVDA,

$MSFT,

$TSLA, and

$META, but GOOG's specific technical levels received focused attention from commenters weighing the analyst upgrade against the near-term resistance.

AI Tailwinds Keep the Narrative Intact

While the Reddit posts were largely tactical and analyst-driven, the broader investing context on Friday leaned heavily into AI. The Fool's Tom Gardner published year-end thoughts on AI disruption, advising investors to focus on disciplined, long-term positions in well-run businesses that are leading AI adoption — a description that fits Alphabet's deep investment in generative AI and cloud infrastructure. A strong Micron earnings report, which sent that stock up 13%, also underscored the depth of AI-related demand among the big tech companies that Alphabet competes with and supplies.

Even a headline featuring a $425.7 million verdict against Google in a data-privacy case did little to dampen the mood. Retail investors appeared to treat the news as noise, keeping their focus on the Wedbush price target and the potential for Alphabet to benefit from the same AI-driven re-rating that lifted names like Micron.

For now,

$GOOG sits at the intersection of analyst bullishness, year-end seasonal optimism, and a secular AI growth story that continues to resonate with the retail crowd. The question on Reddit — "What is your target price for GOOG?" — captures the mood: traders are looking for the next catalyst to validate the $350 thesis.

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