How to Buy Google Stock: Everything You Need to Know

From providing email services to offering us the most powerful search engines, Google is at the forefront of web innovation. Since it’s consistently growing, Google stocks value is high, making it one of the most reliable companies to invest in. This article will teach you how to buy Google stock and help you understand when to do so.

Today, Google dominates the search market share, controlling 92% of the global and more than 88% of the US market. Google LLC is currently owned by its parent company —  Alphabet Inc.

About the Company

We all use Google daily to search for information. It was founded in 1998 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page when they were students at Stanford University. In 2020, with the market cap of Google at $1,201.54 billion, it became the third US company to surpass the $1 trillion market value.

Today, Google specializes in a broad range of internet-related products and services. Its users have access to many tools, including advertising, maps, email, cloud storage, payment methods, and a mobile wallet.

Google controls the bulk of media available to internet users. It developed the Android operating system most smartphones use today. What’s more, the Google parent company, Alphabet Inc., owns YouTube. That said, the primary source of its income comes from selling advertising space online.

Companies pay massive amounts of money to feature their ads on websites, YouTube, and blogs. Apple is directly competing with Google by offering alternatives like Apple Pay and the iOS operating system. These services aim to capture the market of Android and Google Play.

Other companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, and Yahoo also try to rival Google in the tech space. The latter is currently at the forefront of innovation in internet technologies, making it a permanent part of the web’s structure.

Should I Invest in Google?

The answer depends on your goals, portfolio and available funds.

If you’re wondering how much it costs to buy Google stock, the price is high — over $1770 per share. In other words, you’ll need over $17,700 to buy 10 shares or $177,000 to buy 100. That said, you can start investing in Google stock one share at a time.

Currently, GOOG and GOOGL are both a Google stock symbol on the NASDAQ stock exchange. They’re not the same price, but the difference is negligible.

Both tickers resulted from a Google stock split, which created two different share classes —  Google stock class C (GOOG) and Google stock class A (GOOGL). Insiders own the third Google stock class B, which isn’t available for trading on the public market.

Google Stock Performance

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Google stock performance lagged behind Apple, Facebook, and Amazon, which continued throughout 2020.

The company’s primary revenue source is the internet. So, when businesses cut their advertising budgets due to COVID-19 losses, it also affected the biggest advertising platform in the world — Google.

In the second quarter of 2020, Google recorded $38.3 billion revenue, 1.5% ($600 million) less compared to the same period last year. It was Alphabet’s first year-over-year decline in revenue. Although the loss wasn’t enormous for the company, the potential revenue decrease was a red flag for many investors.

Google projections were better in the third quarter thanks to the company’s removal of traffic acquisition costs, which led to its 14% increase in revenue over the same period last year. Google advertising revenue increased from $33.8 billion in 2019 to $37.1 billion in the third quarter of 2020.

At the same time, Google’s total earnings increased by 24% from last year. Although the company cut back on capital spending, marketing, and hiring during the Covid-19 emergency, its total revenue still rose 14% to $46.17 billion.

So, why invest in Google? Advertising remains a significant income source for Google, but its search market dominance will keep contributing to its future value. Google properties, consisting of YouTube, Play Store, and core internet search, increased 10% to $31.38 billion, greater than Google stock predictions. Meanwhile, YouTube advertising outperformed the $4.37 billion estimations and rose 32% to $5.04 billion.

There’s news from Google’s cloud computing business, where the parent Alphabet is breaking out as a separate segment starting from December’s quarter results. The ongoing share repurchase program also aims to improve earnings for GOOGL stock. The latter holds several trump cards, affecting stock valuations, including the Waymo autonomous vehicle business.

Heading into 2021, Google stock investors are hoping for a rebound that will keep the company’s dominance of YouTube advertising and the internet search business.

Your Portfolio

It’s never easy to predict market behavior, more so when there’s a global pandemic raging on. But a diversified portfolio can parry you through everything. It reduces potential losses in a bear market and allows you to minimize the damage.

Google has always shown consistent growth. As a result, if you’re looking to diversify your portfolio, the company’s stock can be an excellent option for investing. However, the Google stock price also makes it substantial risk. Relying exclusively on highly valued shares is never recommended, and that holds in Google’s case, too.

How to Buy Google Stock

Back in the days, visiting brokerage firms was the only way to buy stocks. Fortunately, this is no longer the case. Thanks to the internet, and partially to the biggest search engine, you can now learn how to buy Google stock online.

Several trading platforms and brokerage firms currently offer Google stock. Online stockbrokers and companies like Stash Invest or eToro are some of the most well-known platforms. You can also consult financial advisors to buy Google stock. Let’s see how this works in detail.

Online Brokers / Trading Platforms

Although you can buy Google shares online, not all platforms have access to the company’s stocks since NASDAQ limits that to a few online stock brokers. That said, online brokers that have access don’t allow everyone to open an account with them. Plus, they can be super expensive.

An account at a brokerage firm is similar to opening a regular bank account. The only difference is that you’ll store shares instead of money. Also, unlike some banks, this entire process is carried out online. However, if the brokerage firm performs a background check, it can take a couple of days. You can buy shares by depositing cash to your broker.

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eToro is a multi-asset brokerage company that is currently most popular for its cryptocurrency trading options. Besides that, eToro offers zero commission trading and a free demo account with $100K to help you practice!

Financial Advisors

Hiring a financial advisor can give you a range of benefits, especially when buying high-risk, high-return stocks like Google. Managing investments expertly requires time, skill, and effort. A financial advisor can help you understand if and how buying Google stock fits in your portfolio. Besides, they’ll help you specify your financial goals. Then the advisor can purchase and manage your investments on your behalf.

Of course, experts charge a fee for their services. It can be annual, a percentage of the assets they manage, or a per-trade fee. Consulting with a financial advisor saves you time and leaves the decision-making in their hands.

Final Thoughts

Google is a high-performing stock option that can pay you back consistently. Being at the head of innovation, the company has a promising future growth. At the same time, Google stock is also high-risk. So, it’s best to diversify your investment strategy and keep other options available when buying Google stock.

We recommend you research how to buy Google stock thoroughly before you start investing.