Alphabet Q1 preview: Ad resilience, cloud backlog, capex plans in spotlight

Alphabet (GOOG.OQ) is set to report first-quarter results on Wednesday, with investors focused on advertising revenue resilience, cloud growth and updates to capital spending plans. Wall Street consensus expectations are noted but not detailed; market reaction so far shows modest weakness in Alphabet shares. The report could move the stock and broader tech names depending on ad demand, cloud backlog momentum and capex guidance — strong ad/cloud metrics or conservative capex could be positive for the stock, while downside surprises or aggressive spending plans could weigh on margins and shares. Near-term price action has been muted, with GOOG trading slightly down in the session prior to the print.