Topic: How To Invest

Q: Dear Pat: Are you familiar with “Desktop Metal?” It’s a private company that Alphabet has apparently invested in. I know it is risky at the present time, but I wonder if you are monitoring this new enterprise for future consideration if it does go public.

Article Excerpt

A: Alphabet Inc., $942.90, (Nasdaq symbols GOOG [class C non-voting] and $961.81, GOOGL [class A voting], Shares outstanding: 640.7 million; Market cap: $658.8 billion, www.abc.xyz), has been one of our top tech buys of the past few years. In addition, it is our top Aggressive buy for 2017 in Wall Street Stock Forecaster.  The company has fast-growing income from Google’s dominant position in Internet search, plus booming related businesses such as YouTube. Both these activities have great growth potential due to the continuing shift from traditional ads to online advertising. In addition, Alphabet investors may also benefit from the company’s so-called “moonshots,” of which Desktop Metal is one. These are startup projects that the company is working on both directly at its Google X research facility, and indirectly, through investments by its venture capital arm. These startups might actually turn out to have Uber-scale potential. The best-known and most advanced to date is Google’s own driverless-car project. Google/Alphabet is one of only a..