Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s Google Could Be Facing More EU Antitrust Charges

tags: GOOGL

Britain’s decision to leave the European Union shook the markets with analysts estimating that in just two days around $3 trillion were wiped out from the global stock markets. Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock didn’t deviate from the negative market trend and suffered a sizable decline of 4.15% on Friday, dropping to a close at $685.2 per share. Yesterday it logged another red session going 0.6% lower and closing the trading day at $681.14. The intraday-low of $672.66 marked the lowest point for GOOGL‘s stock for the past eight months.

GOOGL could soon face even more troubles coming from the EU with the European Commission sending requests to rival companies to allow evidence to be shared with Google. This move could be a signal that a third antitrust complaint might be filed against the search giant. Last year GOOGL was charged with unfairly promoting its own services in shopping search services while in April it got a formal complaint for abusing its dominant market share position with the Android mobile operating system. With the current investigation targeting advertising the effect on GOOGL‘s revenue stream could be far more serious. Around 90% of the company’s $74.5 billion 2015 revenue came from advertising.

The analysts providing coverage on Alphabet Inc.’s stock remain extremely positive, though, with over 90% of them maintain a Strong Buy rating for the ticker while the rest recommend a Hold. In a couple of weeks, after market close on July 14, GOOGL is expected to announce its second quarter financial results. The current estimates are for earnings per share between $7.6 and $8.83 and revenues ranging between $20.12 billion and $21.28 billion. At its current price the stock is down by 11.02% from its price at the start of the year and 14.52% lower than its 52-week high.