Alphabet and Amazon Are Cheaper Than the S&P 500. What's Going On?

The article argues that the S&P 500 may look more expensive than Alphabet and Amazon on a trailing P/E basis, but that comparison is distorted by one-time unrealized gains on investments. Alphabet and Amazon both benefited from rising valuations in private AI firm Anthropic, and Alphabet also booked a large paper gain tied to SpaceX, inflating reported earnings and depressing their apparent P/Es. Using forward earnings, both stocks still trade at reasonable multiples relative to their growth, cloud leadership, and AI-related spending. The piece concludes that Alphabet and Amazon remain attractive long-term investments, with valuation looking less unusually cheap once these accounting effects are removed.