Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) surprised me. I expected a relatively bad quarter because it guided earlier in the year towards ramping up investments. The numbers came out looking strong likely because the company curtailed some of its spending on other bets like Fiber and Nest.

The market already anticipated this as Alphabet's shares have been quite strong in the run up to the quarter. Alphabet looks like it will be up once the market opens, but keep in mind some of it has been priced in.

It does start to look more and more like the hiring of Porat marked a change in how management thinks about capital allocation. I don't just mean the ex-banker brings a lot of financial discipline to the company, but that hiring Porat by itself is a sign Page and Brin are taking capital allocation to another level. Read More