** Shares of Alphabet Inc rising 1.2% on Tues ahead of the internet heavyweight's qtrly report after the bell, with a slowdown in rev growth anticipated as investors focus on rollout of AI services
** Stock has gained ~4% in past three sessions and is now at its highest in nearly a month ** Analysts on avg expect qtrly rev up 12.5% to $86.3 bln, which would make it the slowest rev growth in four qtrs for the Google owner, per LSEG
** Qtrly adj EPS seen at $1.85 vs $1.55 yr-ago
** The co's core ad business faces competition from Amazon
and TikTok
** Investors also focused on introduction of AI-related tech after GOOGL warned in July that capex would remain high this year as it invested in AI to keep up with rivals
** GOOGL now up ~21% YTD vs Nasdaq's 24% increase
** At current price, co is trading at ~21x expected earnings, below its five-yr avg of ~24x
(Reporting by Noel Randewich) ((mailto:noel.randewich@tr.com;))