Google Lighting up Trader’s Screens
Originally Published In the News April 18 2008 11:30 AM
The pile on against Google was spurred on by high profile pundits predicting a debacle based of notoriously unreliable web analytics. Just about a year ago an Asian equity analyst recommended a short sale of Baidu based on Alexa data; the call for Google to implode due to comScore data is in many ways reminiscent.
But the numbers are inspiring, to say the least:
For its first quarter, Google said net income for the period ended March 31 rose to $1.31 billion, or $4.12 a share, from $1 billion, or $3.18 a share, in the same period a year earlier.
Revenue rose to $5.19 billion from $3.66 billion.
Excluding special items, Google said that earnings for the period were $4.84 a share. Net revenue, or revenue minus payments made to other sites to acquire Internet traffic, came in at $3.7 billion.
Analysts had estimated Google would post earnings excluding special items of $4.55 a share and net revenue of $3.61 billion, according to FactSet Research.
Recent data from comScore Inc. has shown tepid paid-click growth during the first quarter, stirring concerns about the impact of the U.S. economic slowdown on Google and helping send its shares more than 30% lower between the beginning of the year and Thursday’s earnings report.
Earlier this week, comScore reported that Google’s paid clicks rose only 1.8% in the quarter compared with the period a year earlier, though its data don’t include Google’s international search markets. MarketWatch
If you are ringing the register today, you might want to thank Henry Blodget for setting up the opportunity. A myopic market has focused on rumblings from him and Meredith Whitney over the past few months, but the rubber band is snapping back today.
Blodget spent two months casting doubt on the company’s strategy and earnings, but switched gears at 2pm yesterday, and is claiming victory.
Google gets big lift as market cheers report
Marketwatch
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