Shares of dot-com bellwethers Amazon.com , Microsoft and Alphabet , the company formerly known as Google, have risen to record or multiyear highs this week, pushing the S & P 500 close to its own record. Shares of Priceline Group also hit a record high. As shown by the above table, valuations are still more reasonable today than the highs of more than a decade ago. But are these former stars still buys at these levels? Here's a look at the fundamentals and prospects of each stock... The big bear story for Alphabet was it will have problems transitioning from desktop search to mobile search given the differing ad formats. However, the company proved the skeptics wrong as website revenue re-accelerated to 16 percent year-over-year growth in the September quarter from 13 percent in the June quarter. "The company called out mobile search as the primary driver (on the growth rate improving), as mobile queries surpassed those on the desktop worldwide in October," Canaccord Genuity's Michael Graham wrote in a note to clients Oct. 23. Read More Santoli: For CEOs and bankers, it's now or never With the company showing it figured out mobile and the recent shareholder-friendly moves of greater transparency and a $5 billion stock buyback, Alphabet looks poised to continue its gains. Graham has a "buy" rating on Alphabet with a price target of $850, representing 13 percent upside. Alphabet shares traded up nearly 1 percent Wednesday afternoon at $755.81. Amazon.com's recent rise is driven by the success of Amazon Web Services (AWS), the Internet retailer's cloud computing platform. AWS is now 52 percent of Amazon's operating profit, even though it constitutes only 8 percent of the company's overall sales. AWS sales rose in Amazon's third quarter by 78 percent from the previous year, to $2.1 billion. More impressive is AWS' accelerating operating profit margins at 25 percent of sales versus 21.4 percent a quarter ago and only 8.4 percent last year. However, Amazon management repeatedly warned AWS performance will not continue in a straight line. "But the (AWS) growth rates and margins will certainly remain lumpy and bumpy as we go forward," Brian Olsavsky, Amazon's chief financial officer, said on the Oct. 22 earnings call, according to a FactSet transcript. Read More 'Candy Crush' buyout masks mobile gaming problems Amazon shares are up 107 percent year to date and trade at 336 times 2015 estimated earnings. Given the performance, potential for AWS volatility and the high multiple, it may be prudent to focus on other opportunities. Shares of Amazon traded up 2.8 percent Wednesday to $642.50. The 12-month Wall Street average price target for Amazon is $727, representing 13 percent upside, according to FactSet. Stanley Druckenmiller, the legendary hedge fund manager, said he was long Amazon and lauded the long-term AWS business strategy at The New York Times DealBook conference Tuesday. Microsoft, the No. 2 player in the cloud computing platform market, trades at a more reasonable valuation at 20 times 2015 earnings and actually has a faster-growing cloud business than Amazon. "While many companies are developing commercial cloud offerings, there are really only two driving enterprise cloud platform innovations at massive scale, Amazon and Microsoft. We push each other and we each have a unique approach," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said on the Oct. 22 earnings conference call, according to a FactSet transcript. Analysts are enthusiastic about Microsoft's cloud efforts and future growth. "Azure (Microsoft's cloud computing platform) revenue grew 135 percent year over year, with revenue and usage both more than doubling," Stifel's Brad Reback wrote in a note to clients Oct. 23. "Commercial cloud (includes Azure and cloud-based software services such as Office 365) is now on an $8.2 billion (annual) run rate ... and well on its path towards $20 billion in fiscal year 2018." Microsoft shares traded flat Wednesday afternoon at $54.20. Reback has a "buy" rating on the company with a price target of $58, representing 7 percent upside. European travel season data points are showing a healthy business for Priceline, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch's Justin Post in a note to clients Oct. 6. He cites stronger-than-expected hotel sales data from market research firm STR of 14 percent year-over-year growth. Moreover, Priceline's Booking.com site shows 805,000 hotel and vacation rental properties ahead of Post's third-quarter model of 795,000, so he expects the company to beat earnings and sales estimates in the quarter due to the solid channel checks. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has a "buy" rating on Priceline with a 12-month price target of $1,540. Priceline reports third-quarter earnings Monday. The online travel company traded up modestly Wednesday afternoon at $1,467.
