Alphabet vs. Meta: Which AI Advertising Giant Is the Better Stock to Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) are both using AI to make advertising more valuable while spending tens of billions of dollars on the models and infrastructure underneath it. Their valuations now make the portfolio choice unusually close. Alphabet trades at roughly 25 times forward earnings, while Meta is near 23 times. The economic question is no longer whether AI helps advertising, but which company converts the spending into durable earnings more efficiently. We recently examined whether Alphabet's reprieve from an ad-tech breakup protects the cash machine funding its AI war chest. The answer matters because Meta is now the cheaper stock despite faster advertising growth.Alphabet vs.