The recent slump in Google parent Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares is a great buying opportunity, according to research analysts at Stifel.
In a note to investors seen by CNBC, Stifel raised its rating for Google shares to Buy from Hold, citing its new growth opportunities including cloud computing.
The NYSE blamed a technical malfunction, specifically a “price scale code issue” for halting trade for the day in Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Alphabet.
Google shares closed 0.04% up to US$1,022.99.
"Alphabet continues to drive growth at scale through strength in mobile search, YouTube, and programmatic advertising, while investing in other key initiatives (cloud, hardware, AI) that should serve as multi-year growth levers," analyst Scott Devitt wrote in a note to clients Tuesday.
"Alphabet's products seem to have more proven durability and utility in the lives of consumers than Facebook Inc.’s (NASDAQ: FB) products, as displayed in recent weakness of users and usage in Facebook's most mature and highly monetized market of North America."
The analyst hiked his price target for the company's shares to US$1,234 from US$1,150 so there is plenty of upside for the share.