...August 11, 2023 Alphabet's revenue growth acceleration in the second quarter is a positive sign for advertising even as the overall advertising market remains lackluster. In our opinion, Alphabet is a bellwether for the global advertising market and its positive momentum in the second quarter could be a leading indicator that after several quarters of weakness, advertising is turning the corner. However, other parts of the advertising ecosystem are still lagging and Alphabet's second-quarter improvement could be company specific due to its significant technology investments that are boosting return on advertising spend for customers and helping it take share from legacy media. Alphabet's top-line growth is accelerating, and operating margins are expanding from cost- efficiency initiatives. After experiencing declining growth rates for the past few quarters, Alphabet saw modest top-line acceleration due to improving advertising as the economy appears to avoid recession. We expect Alphabet...
