Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) stock rose about 1.4% early Thursday as several Wall Street banks defended the company following shares’ 7% drop Wednesday, which was spurred by a report that Apple (AAPL) may be looking to add AI search options to its web browser Safari.

Alphabet-owned Google is currently the default search option for Apple’s browser, for which it pays the iPhone maker $20 billion annually.

Read more about Alphabet’s stock moves and today’s market action.

During testimony in the US Justice Department’s lawsuit against Alphabet, Apple’s senior vice president of services, Eddy Cue, said that Google searches on Safari declined for the first time last month, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

Cue indicated the decline in Safari searches occurred as customers turn to AI search providers and said Apple is “actively looking at” adding AI search engines such as Perplexity to its default Safari web browser.

Google said in a statement late Wednesday, “We continue to see overall query growth in Search. That includes an increase in total queries coming from Apple’s devices and platforms.”

Analysts at Jefferies, TD Cowen, Citi, and JPMorgan were among those on Wall Street maintaining a Buy or Overweight rating on the stock.

Jefferies analyst Brent Thill and JPMorgan analyst Harlan Sur both called the reaction to Cue’s commentary “overdone.” Analysts said Apple’s Cue was likely trying to argue that the search market is competitive, which would help bolster Google’s case so that it doesn’t lose its $20 billion deal.

Sur said Apple “has incentive for Google to appear weaker in search, while also emphasizing increased search competition and the significant impact to Apple’s business.”

Thill wrote: “Considering Google’s substantial payment to Apple to be its default search provider, it is logical that Apple might highlight data points supporting the narrative that Google is not anti-competitive in search, citing risks of AI providers, which could benefit Google’s case in appealing against claims of anti-competitive behavior (Apple’s Cue reportedly noted that GOOGL still offers the best financial terms).”

TD Cowen’s John Blackledge noted that Google’s own AI overviews — an integration of its AI model Gemini within its search engine that summarizes search results — has 1.5 billion monthly users across 140 countries. He noted that AI Overview searches currently generate the same amount of revenue for Google as traditional searches, supporting the argument that AI-powered search won’t cannibalize Google’s core advertising business.