Snowflake vs. Alphabet: Which Cloud Analytics Stock Has an Edge Now?

Snowflake SNOW and Alphabet GOOGL are major players in the cloud data and analytics space. While Snowflake provides a pure-play cloud data warehousing and analytics platform, Alphabet offers similar capabilities through Google Cloud’s BigQuery as part of its broader cloud ecosystem.

Per the Grand View Research report, the global cloud analytics market size was valued at $35.39 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach $130.63 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 25.5% from 2025 to 2030. Both Snowflake and Google are poised to benefit from this rapid growth pace.

Snowflake or Alphabet — Which of these Cloud Analytics stocks has the greater upside potential? Let’s find out.

The Case of SNOW Stock

SNOW is benefiting from strong adoption and increasing usage of its platform, as reflected by the net revenue retention rate of 125% in the second quarter of fiscal 2026. The company reported 19% year-over-year growth in the number of customers, reaching 12,062 in the second quarter of fiscal 2026. The company now has 654 customers with trailing 12-month product revenues greater than $1 million and 751 Forbes Global 2000 customers.

Snowflake’s expanding portfolio has been a significant growth driver. The company launched approximately 250 new capabilities in the first half of fiscal 2026, including Snowflake Intelligence, Cortex AI SQL, Gen2 warehouses, Snowflake Postgres, and Snowflake OpenFlow. These innovations simplify data management, enhance performance, and enable AI-driven insights.

Snowflake’s investments in artificial intelligence and machine learning, including the introduction of Cortex AI and its integration with models from OpenAI and Anthropic, drove customer engagement. In the second quarter of fiscal 2026, the company announced that more than 6,100 customers are using Snowflake’s AI and ML technology weekly.

Snowflake’s collaboration with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Microsoft Azure is expanding its reach and enhancing its AI capabilities. Azure was the fastest-growing cloud for Snowflake, with 40% year-over-year growth in the second quarter of fiscal 2026.

The Case of GOOGL Stock

Alphabet is growing its presence in the cloud analytics market with its cloud computing platform, Google Cloud’s BigQuery, a powerful serverless data warehouse solution. BigQuery is strongly integrated into the broader Google Cloud ecosystem, allowing enterprises to leverage Google’s infrastructure, data, and AI services seamlessly.

The company has been growing rapidly in the booming cloud-computing market. In the fiscal second quarter of 2025, Google Cloud revenues increased 31.7% year over year to $13.62 billion. Google’s growing investments in infrastructure, security, data management, analytics, and AI are positive. Its strategic partnerships and acquisitions, as well as the growing number of data centers, are helping Google expand its cloud footprint worldwide.

Alphabet is also benefiting from its partnership with NVIDIA in the cloud. Google Cloud was the first cloud provider to offer NVIDIA’s B200 and GB200 Blackwell GPUs and will be offering its next-generation Vera Rubin GPUs. 

The increasing number of cloud regions and availability zones globally remains a major positive. Google Cloud has 42 cloud regions, 127 zones, and 202 network edge locations across more than 200 countries. Google Cloud is considered the third-largest cloud player among numerous cloud providers worldwide.

Price Performance and Valuation of SNOW and GOOGL

In the year-to-date period, SNOW shares have surged 48.5%, outperforming GOOGL shares, which have rallied 21.8%. The outperformance in SNOW stock is driven by its strong portfolio and an expanding partner base. 

Despite an expanding portfolio and clientele, Alphabet is suffering from increasing litigation issues and stiff competition in the cloud computing market.

SNOW and GOOGL Performance

Both SNOW and Alphabet shares are currently overvalued, as suggested by a Value Score of F and D, respectively.

In terms of forward 12-month Price/Sales, SNOW shares are trading at 14.74X, higher than GOOGL’s 7.70X.

SNOW and GOOGL Valuation

How Do Earnings Estimates Compare for SNOW & GOOGL?

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SNOW’s fiscal 2026 earnings is pegged at $1.08 per share, which has increased by a penny over the past 30 days. This indicates a 30.12% increase year over year.

Snowflake Inc. Price and Consensus

Snowflake Inc. price-consensus-chart | Snowflake Inc. Quote

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Alphabet’s 2025 earnings is pegged at $10 per share, which has increased 0.6% over the past 30 days. This indicates a 24.38% increase year over year.

Alphabet Inc. Price and Consensus

Alphabet Inc. price-consensus-chart | Alphabet Inc. Quote

Conclusion

While both SNOW and GOOGL are well-positioned to benefit from the booming cloud analytics market, Alphabet’s Google Cloud provides a broader ecosystem, stronger global infrastructure, and consistent earnings growth. For investors seeking stability with upside, GOOGL is the better choice.

Despite SNOW’s robust portfolio, stiff competition from hyperscale cloud providers remains a headwind. Elevated infrastructure spending, particularly on GPUs to support AI-driven initiatives, is adding to cost pressures.

Snowflake and Alphabet carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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