Weekly Picks: 📈 GOOG's Platform Leverage, PL's Satellite Boom, and XOM's Production Potential

Each week our analysts hand pick their favourite Narratives from the community (  what is a Narrative? ).

This week’s picks cover: 

• 📈 Why Alphabet can leverage its platforms to compound returns.
• 🛰️ How Planet Labs is positioned for growth in the earth observation industry.
• 🛢️ Why Exxon’s Guyana and South America operations could deliver upside.

💡 Why we like it: BlackGoat reframes Alphabet as a misunderstood value compounder, rather than a flashy AI bet, and makes a convincing case. They walk the reader through each major business line, tie in future optionality like Waymo, and cap it off with a clear valuation anchor. The structure is clean, the tone is measured, and the focus on execution risk over AI hype is a refreshing angle.

💡 Why we like it: This narrative is short, sharp, and purposeful. The latest update is a great example of how to keep followers in the loop without over-explaining. Andreas provides timely context, a set of clear catalysts, and new contract wins to validate their original narrative. It’s tight, forward-looking, and shows how to build conviction without needing pages of detail.

💡 Why we like it: This narrative shows serious thought and detail, but what stands out most is how the author breaks down valuation in a way that’s both structured and flexible. The base case feels grounded, while the bull and bear ranges give readers tools to run their own mental models to see what they think is likely. It’s also great to see a clear, personal investing plan at the end, showing how this narrative fits into a broader strategy.

What's next?

1. 🔔 Know when to act: Set the narrative valuations as your own fair value to know when to buy, hold or sell the stock.

2. 🤔 Get answers: Ask the author any questions in the comments section. Feel free to like as well to support their work.

3. ✨ Discover more Narratives: There are hundreds of other insightful stock narratives on our Community page .

4. ✍️ Build an audience: Have your narrative seen by millions of investors, simply meet our Featuring criteria to go into the running!

Disclaimer

BlackGoat is an employee of Simply Wall St, but has written a narrative in their capacity as an individual investor. Simply Wall St has no position in any of the companies mentioned. These narratives are general in nature and explore scenarios and estimates created by the authors. These narratives do not reflect the opinions of Simply Wall St, and the views expressed are the opinion of the author alone, acting on their own behalf. These scenarios are not indicative of the company’s future performance and are exploratory in the ideas they cover. The fair value estimate’s are estimations only, and do not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and they do not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Note that the author’s analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com

Simply Wall St analyst Michael Paige and Simply Wall St have no position in any of the companies mentioned. This article is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.