Market Update: Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) – Google expanding self-driving vehicle testing to Phoenix, Arizona

[Reuters] – The company’s Google unit has conducted driverless vehicle testing for six years in Mountain View, California, where it is based, and expanded testing to Austin, Texas last summer. Major automakers, and technology companies led by Google, are racing to develop and sell vehicles that can drive themselves, but they have complained that safety rules are impeding testing and ultimate deployment of such vehicles. Most of Google’s 1.5 million miles of autonomous vehicle testing has taken place in California. Read more on this. Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) , with a current value of $512.32B, began trading this morning at $745.37. Looking at the equity, the company’s one day range is $743.70 to $747.00 and has traded between $515.18 and $789.87 over the past year. GOOG shares are currently priced at 21.54x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 17.35x earnings multiple. Consensus earnings for the current quarter by the 37 sell-side analysts covering the stock is an estimate of $7.94 per share, which would be $1.06 better than the year-ago quarter and a $0.14 sequential increase. The full-year EPS estimate is $34.62, which would be a $5.04 better than last year. The quarterly earnings estimate is predicated on a consensus revenue forecast of $20.32 Billion. If reported, that would be a 17.73% increase over the year-ago quarter. In terms of ratings, Goldman upgraded GOOG from Neutral to Buy (Aug 26, 2015). Previously, Atlantic Equities upgraded GOOG from Neutral to Overweight. With the above information in mind, readers should note that the average price target is $930.08, which is 24.78% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NASDAQ:GOOG) Similar Articles: Company Update: Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) – U.S. auto safety agency seeking details of Google self-driving crash Stock Update: Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) – Google expands self-driving car testing to Washington State Market Update: Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) – Google Self-Driving Car ‘Failures’ In Two Charts: 272 Over One Year — But Improvement Seen