Analyst Says He Won’t Be a Buyer of Alphabet (GOOG) Amid ‘Existential Threat’

We recently published 10 AI Analyst Calls You Should Pay Attention To. Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is one of the stocks analysts were recently talking about.

Steven Grasso, the CEO of Grasso Global Inc., said after the most recent quarterly results from Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) that he still believes Google search is facing “existential” threats from AI. The analyst said he would not be a buyer of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares and explained his bear thesis on CNBC:

“I still think there’s an existential threat and even though search is up and Gemini has helped search, you don’t get the clicks when you go through an AI search, you’re not getting the clicks that you would normally get when you go through a Google search. So when you go on a perplexity search for me, I just see the summaries. If you see the summary with Google, are you clicking on anything? And how does that affect revenue going forward? That’s something I’m concerned with. I wouldn’t be a buyer of Google.”

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) bulls believe concerns around AI-related threats to Google search are overstated. Google has an edge over competitors because it’s easier for the billions of users of its search engine to switch to Gemini instead of opting for a completely new model. As of April, Google had over 1.5 billion monthly users interacting with its AI-powered Search overviews. Google’s competitor OpenAI failed to impress the market with its GPT-5 model, while Gemini is gaining traction with new features. Analysts believe the company is strongly positioned to start placing ads in AI search results, which means its core ads business will not be impacted despite the decline in traditional search.

Pershing Square Holdings stated the following regarding Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:

“Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), the parent company of Google, is successfully executing on its vast AI potential. The company’s key advantages – stemming from industry-leading models, a full-stack approach to technical infrastructure (including proprietary chips), access to high-quality data, rapidly improving product launch velocity and a robust distribution ecosystem of seven different apps with over two billion users each – are beginning to meaningfully widen Google’s moat and competitive differentiation in AI.