Here's a riddle. What company can blow more than $3.5 billion on "other projects" this quarter and still have more black all over its income statement than at any time in its history? The advertising behemoth Alphabet, formerly known as Google.
And I think it's important to note that this was the first real Alphabet quarter where all of the other business lines were broken out. Why? Because investors are going to begin factoring those other projects into Alphabet's multiple as they try to discern whether Alphabet can overcome a potential downturn in its core advertising business long-term.