Google’s parent, Alphabet Inc., is expected to bang another quarter of strong sales growth topping the year when profits nearly doubled amidst rising regulatory pressure that threatens the search giant’s future.

Reports suggest that Alphabet expected sales of $72.23 billion and profit of $19.91 billion for the October-to-December period. The company gained $56.9 billion in sales and $15.23 billion in profit during the same period a year earlier, when the pandemic troubled growth.

The expected 27 percent increase in quarterly sales would be the lowest the company has recorded for a three-month period in 2020 and marks a deceleration from the 41 percent increase reported in the July-to-September quarter. The moderating growth has divided investors, with some optimistic Google will extend its momentum over the coming year as Covid-19 wanes and travel returns, while others fear TikTok will dent YouTube’s video dominance and rising costs will cut into margins as per the reports.

The divide has been apparent in the company’s share performance this year. After rising 65 percent last year, shares fell more than 10 percent last month.

The company’s supremacy in online search, video and internet ad sales made it one of last year’s leading beneficiaries in digital advertising. Last year, small and large businesses alike swamped into the ad market in a bid to win customers who spent early parts of the pandemic sequestered in their homes.

“If you’re Pepsi or Ford, you’re looking for ways to communicate with your target audience and people don’t watch TV anymore,” says Mr. Black.

Biggest risk for Google is from regulators in the U.S. and Europe who are filing lawsuits and proposing legislation to curtail the dominance. In the U.S., the company faces separate antitrust lawsuits against its ad-tech, search and app-store businesses, as well as state cases over claims it deceptively collected customers’ location information. In the U.S., it faces proposed legislation that would limit tech companies’ ability to preference their own businesses, as well as a new bill being led by Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah) that would force it to divest its ad-tech unit.