History Says Alphabet Stock's 15% Pullbacks Have Usually Paid Off Within a Year

Alphabet ( GOOGL +0.46% ) ( GOOG +0.61% ) set a record close of $402.62 on May 13. As I write, shares sit near $344, about 15% under the high, even though the Google parent's revenue growth has sped up in each of the past two quarters.

The stock first closed over 15% below its May record on June 26. Its lowest close since then, about $318 on July 23, was the day after management lifted its capital spending forecast again.

This has happened before. Using daily closing prices of the Class A shares, I found 10 times from 2012 through 2025 when the stock first closed at least 15% under a record. In nine of them, shares were up 12 months later.