https://seekingalpha.com/article ... stock-is-better-buy 作者: sec2100 時間: 2022-5-15 08:39
The firm has an A+ profitability grade from Seeking Alpha, which should come as no surprise. The moat here is obvious - everyone uses Google to search, and the ads get more relevant (and thus more valuable) the more you use it. That creates a flywheel of increasing profitability. It is also a beneficiary of more and more economic activity going online, as the first way people look for a new service provider is very often a Google search. Their financial metrics bear out this moat, with a recent return on equity of 30%, which would be higher if they didn't have excess cash on their balance sheet. Their margins at all levels are also excellent, and they are investing through the income statement in the operating losses of their various moonshot projects, which obscures the unbelievable quality of their core business. After the recent market turbulence, the price of this business is not especially onerous, with Seeking Alpha having the forward P/E at 20X. All of this is well known, and so for this piece, I'm primarily focusing on the history and differences between their various share classes from the perspective of both a new investor and someone who already owns one and is wondering whether to switch.作者: sec2100 時間: 2022-5-15 08:43
So in 2014 Google announced a stock split, where the existing holders of the A and B shares would get a new share of C class stock for every existing share held. The Class C shares are non-voting. This allowed for both the issuance of additional stock and for the founders to sell their new C class shares, without either action affecting their control of the firm. Now, there was quite an uproar at the time about this being shareholder unfriendly, but nearly a decade later the market doesn't seem to have objected to the treble class share structure. In fact, the A and C shares (B isn't traded) have consistently traded at almost the exact same value, and when they have diverged it has often been the non-voting C class that has traded at a premium.作者: sec2100 時間: 2022-5-15 08:45
The A class shares have the symbol GOOGL and come with one vote, while the C class shares have the symbol GOOG and come with no voting rights at all. The shares have the same economic interest in Google's business, so other than voting rights there is really no reason to prefer one or the other. Since the Class B shares still have more than 50% of the votes, the voting power of the Class A shares is more theoretical than practical, and it certainly isn't worth paying much for it. Also, with only 5% more Class C outstanding than Class A, as of the most recent 10-K, there isn't much of a liquidity difference to the shares either. So for those buying shares, I'd recommend choosing whichever is cheaper, lately that has been the voting shares.