Alphabet hits $1,000 share price less than a week after Amazon

Hot on the heels of online retailer Amazon, shares in Google’s parent company Alphabet have risen to the four-figure mark. Just six days after Amazon shares passed the $1,000 mark, Alphabet’s stock has followed suit. The Google parent company becomes the third to reach the milestone, after Priceline first breached the barrier in 2013.

With a market value of around $680 billion – second only to Apple – Alphabet’s value has surged over the last 12 months. But why? Well the success is largely due to the continued dominance and constantly improving service offered by Google’s search engine, and the ad revenue that comes with it. 

And despite predictions that YouTube would lose Alphabet up to £1 billion after its ad controversy earlier this year, it looks like other revenue streams have more than make up for the loss. Investment in driverless car company Waymo and connected device maker Nest are also bringing home the bacon for Alphabet.

Market analysts have been quick to say that the success of Alphabet and Amazon success reflect a massive rally in large-cap technology-related stocks. Shares of Amazon have indeed risen 33 per cent so far in 2017 alone, adding roughly $120 billion to its market value. And analysts expect further growth, with stock prices, on average, expected to rise another 10 per cent.

Among the other four largest U.S. companies, Apple and Facebook share prices have also risen nearly 33 per cent this year while Alphabet has gained 26 per cent and Microsoft has added 13 per cent.

However, Mad Money host Jim Cramer issued a word of warning when he insisted that the $1,000 stock value should be seen as a red flag rather than a marker of a resurgent market.