Alphabet: A Dividend Hunter’s Sigh

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Alphabet. A company that makes search engines and dreams of rockets. They just had a pretty good quarter, which, in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t mean a whole lot. But for those of us who like a little something coming in regularly—a dividend, you understand—it’s worth a look. So it goes.

The Search Continues

Google Search. Still around. People still ask it questions. Imagine that. There was a bit of chatter about artificial intelligence replacing it, but that didn’t really happen. They made 17% more money this quarter than last. Seventeen percent. It’s a number. A perfectly adequate number, all things considered. People need to find cat videos, after all.

They do other things, of course. Lots of things. But the search box? That’s the engine. That’s where the money comes from. And for a dividend hunter, that’s good news. It’s a steady drip, drip, drip in a world of chaos.

Cloudy with a Chance of Profit

Google Cloud. They’re building digital houses in the sky. And people are renting space. They grew by 48% this quarter. Forty-eight percent. Faster than Microsoft, apparently. That’s a competition. A mostly harmless competition, but a competition nonetheless.

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They say it’s all about AI. AI this, AI that. It’s just computers doing what they’re told, really. But it makes money. And that margin, 30%? That’s a respectable number. A number that suggests they’re not giving it all away. They’re keeping some for themselves. And for us, hopefully, in the form of dividends.

Space and Robots: The Long Shots

SpaceX. They’re shooting for the stars, literally. Alphabet owns a piece of it. A big piece, apparently. A $900 million piece, from way back when. Now it might be worth a trillion and a half. It’s a gamble, of course. A very large gamble. But sometimes, you have to roll the dice. So it goes.

Then there’s Waymo. The robotaxis. They’re trying to get robots to drive us around. It’s a noble effort. A slightly terrifying effort. But if it works, it could be big. If it doesn’t? Well, there are plenty of other things to invest in. Though, finding a reliable dividend becomes more difficult each year.

There are reasons to look at Alphabet. Not earth-shattering reasons, mind you. Just…reasons. A solid search business, a growing cloud, a few long-shot bets. It’s not a perfect company. No company is. But in a world that’s rapidly going to pieces, a little stability is worth something. Especially if it comes with a dividend.

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2026-02-09 07:02