Prediction: This Will Be the Largest Company By the End of 2026

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• BRK-B +0.06% GOOG +1.05%

Quick Read

• Alphabet (GOOG) stock surged over 6% Monday and nearly 3% after-hours following the launch of Gemini 3.0.

• Berkshire Hathaway made an investment in Alphabet last quarter.

• Alphabet overtook Microsoft in market value as its shares rallied 85% over six months.

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It's been an eventful month for the Magnificent Seven and the state of the AI trade, to say the least. With a painful correction sweeping through the tech scene, but some soothing words from a Fed official, it seems like there's still a pretty good chance that the S&P 500 exits the month of November with gains intact, especially as some of the Magnificent Seven players start shining bright again.

Though it's too early to say where stocks head back after getting momentarily knocked to the canvas over extreme levels of AI bubble discussion among various pundits, including tech leaders, money managers, banks, and seemingly everyone else, I do think that investors shouldn't discount the Magnificent Seven group, even as members of the cohort move in differing directions again.

Alphabet has been shining bright. If its glorious rally continues, it might finish 2026 as the world's largest company

Undoubtedly, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) has been the star of the seven this month, sidestepping the AI pullback, thanks in part to a surprising, but very much exciting investment from the Warren Buffett-led (he's not retired yet!) Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK-B).

If Berkshire, a cash-flush firm that's all about value investing, has a horse in the AI race with Alphabet, a broad-sweeping AI bubble thesis doesn't hold up as much, in my humble opinion, especially when it comes to the profoundly profitable companies pouring ample cash into the effort.

Timing the AI bubble is still timing the market, and it's a move that might not lead to a satisfactory return compared to just staying invested and "owning the market."  Cashing out or shorting some of the high-flyers in tech, I think, might be that much riskier now that there are some signs that the AI correction is healing, even if you're proven right about overvaluations in the long term.

In any case, we've seen some movement in the Mag Seven "leaderboard in recent weeks, with Alphabet pole-vaulting over Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), whose shares have really stalled of late. With Alphabet stock blasting off more than 6% on Monday while surging close to 3% in the after-hours session despite not getting slammed amid the recent AI pullback in the prior week, it seems like Alphabet shares are about to go into overdrive as investors look to price in the latest and greatest AI model, Gemini 3.0, which appears well ahead of the competition (including the likes of OpenAI's ChatGPT).

Could this be Gemini's big moment to shine as it outdoes ChatGPT and others in the benchmarks?

Perhaps. Either way, the AI race is going into overdrive, and unless OpenAI can pull the curtain on something soon, I think Alphabet might be the new AI champion to bet on, as the firm looks to monetize the technology in profound ways. With Gemini coming to Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) devices, I think Google's AI business might leave its much-smaller rivals in the dust. Sure, some might think it's too late to be chasing Alphabet stock after an 85% surge in six months.

However, it seems like Gemini is just hitting an inflection point of sorts. And if Google can monetize the model (dare I say a hyper-monetization boom?), I think a strong argument can still be made that Alphabet stock is still cheap at 31.5 times trailing price-to-earnings (P/E), or just north of 27.0 times forward P/E.

After an explosive move, it's clear that prior AI search fears were unwarranted and that Google's AI Mode has had its way with the competition. As impressive as Gemini 3.0 is (Marc Benioff had great things to say about the model), it's shocking to think that it's only going to get better from here.

If the new model has Benioff switching from ChatGPT and saying things like he's "not going back," I think there's a lot to take in as the man says things like "the world just changed, again." I think Benioff is right on the money and wouldn't bet against Alphabet as it takes the lead, with enough firepower to stay ahead in the AI race, perhaps for good.

The bottom line

As Google advances Gemini further, while new monetization channels (like the deal with Apple) open up, I think the AI ROI fears might be put to rest, as Alphabet charges ahead to become the most valuable company on earth. Though it won't be easy to top Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), I do think Alphabet will pull it off next year. There's too much AI momentum behind it, and the multiple still remains too low.

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