Alphabet Inc. ( GOOG ) shares are trading higher on Monday. Alphabet is set to release quarterly financial earnings on Tuesday.

The Details: For the company’s 2024 fiscal year second quarter, analysts estimate an EPS of $1.85 and revenue of $84.20 billion, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Alphabet stock is currently trading above its 50 day moving average of $178.32 at $181.40. In addition, it is trading towards the top of its 52 week range of $118.22 to $191.75. The stock is trading at a session volume of 4.51 million, far below its average session volume of 24.95 million.

Analyst Changes: Wedbush analyst Scott Devitt reiterated Alphabet with a Outperform and maintains $205 price target.

How To Buy Alphabet Stock:

By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Alphabet – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.

Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy ‘fractional shares,' which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share. For example, some stock, like Berkshire Hathaway, or Amazon.com, can cost thousands of dollars to own just one share. However, if you only want to invest a fraction of that, brokerages will allow you to do so.

In the the case of Alphabet , which is trading at $181.18 as of publishing time, $100 would buy you 0.55 shares of stock.

If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to ‘go short' a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.

Related Link: What’s Going On With Alibaba And Other Chinese Stocks On Monday?

GOOGL Price Action: At the time of writing, Alphabet stock is trading 2.63% at $182.33 per data from Benzinga Pro.

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