• Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) stock got slammed after the company’s recent earnings report.
• Take a closer look at the data, and you might find that sell-side investors overreacted.
• Investors should grab shares of Alphabet while their valuation is relatively low.

Not long ago, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) announced its highly anticipated first-quarter 2022 fiscal results. Investors dumped their GOOG stock shares, but this presents a great dip-buying opportunity.

As one of the FAANG names, Alphabet carries a great deal of weight in the technology sector. All eyes were on Alphabet as the company delivered its quarterly financial data recently.

Judging by the price action of GOOG stock, you might be led to assume that Alphabet’s quarterly performance was terrible. Also, some skeptics may choose to avoid the stock because, at $2,000+, it looks expensive.

But expensive is a relative term. Even a quadruple-digit stock can be a bargain under the right conditions. Besides, Alphabet’s quarterly results really weren’t all that bad and actually have some notable positive points to consider.

What’s Happening with GOOG Stock?

Alphabet’s first-quarter 2022 financial results were released on the afternoon of April 26. The next day, GOOG stock fell 3.75%, landing at almost exactly $2,300.

Of course, this caused Alphabet’s market capitalization to take a haircut. Still, it remained over $1.5 trillion.

Even at its reduced price point, can we really consider GOOG stock to be cheap now? The answer is definitely yes, as Alphabet now has a trailing 12-month price-to-earnings ratio of 21. For a gigantic technology business in the 2020s, that’s quite reasonable.

Furthermore, the Alphabet share price has been as high as $3,042 during the past 12 months. Hence, it’s not unreasonable to say that the shares are currently on sale.

Of course, GOOG stock should only be considered a bargain if Alphabet is doing well as a business. Investors didn’t seem too impressed with the company’s Q1 2022 performance. Was the data really all that bad, though?

For one thing, we can observe that Alphabet generated $68 billion in quarterly revenue, up 23% year-over-year. It’s evident that Alphabet is still capable of demonstrating robust revenue growth.

Plus, Alphabet announced Q1 2022 operating margin of 30%, which is exactly the same as the operating margin of the year-earlier quarter. So far, there’s nothing to complain about here.

Here’s the Sticking Point

What may have bothered the investing community was Alphabet’s quarterly earnings result. The company was certainly profitable, having earned $24.62 per share (diluted). However, this result fell short of Wall Street’s expectations by 4.2%, and was less than the year-earlier quarter’s result of $26.29 per share.

As far as sticking points go, that’s not too bad. Perhaps Wall Street has become spoiled by Alphabet’s consistently strong bottom-line growth.

Value-focused investors know, however, that even a great company like Alphabet can’t be expected to knock it out of the park every single quarter. Yet, that’s what many investors seem to expect nowadays from famous technology companies.

At the very least, we can say that one Wall Street expert sees a buying opportunity with GOOG stock. As MoffettNathanson Senior Research Analyst Michael Nathanson put it, “it’s not surprising that a company that’s built on advertising would have a slowdown due to all the macro headwinds in this world.”

That’s a great way to put Alphabet’s earnings miss into perspective. Nathanson concluded, “I’m not panicking. I’d buy more. I think the stock is really, really cheap.”

What You Can Do With GOOG Stock

All in all, Alphabet’s first-quarter results weren’t terrible. There was a notable sticking point in terms of the bottom-line results, but investors may have overreacted when they divested their GOOG stock shares.

As Nathanson suggested, traders don’t have to panic. Alphabet shares are a bargain even at $2,000+, and value seekers ought to consider taking a long position as the fire sale isn’t likely to last much longer.

On the date of publication, David Moadel did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.