Barclays sees up to 41% of Alphabet profits at risk from antitrust remedies

Barclays analyst Ross Sandler says the investment community “has started to wake up to the reality” that Alphabet (GOOGL) “finds itself in a challenging situation.” The firm says it now must consider scenarios and consequences of Google breaking U.S. antitrust laws. Alphabet and Apple (AAP) “are both in a very precarious situation,” as many roads lead to the unwind of the Information Services Agreement contract and all of its elements that have benefited both companies for the past decade, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Barclays sees a range of outcomes from the antitrust case between 2%-41% of Alphabet gross profit being eliminated by remedies. These could involve structural changes like divesting Chrome, Android or AdWords as has been reported in the press, the firm says. It keeps an Overweight rating on Alphabet shares with a $200 price target.