Google shares hit new high after earnings beat

Google shares hit a new high in after-hours trading Thursday after the Internet giant's earnings blew past expectations as its advertising business expanded.

Google shares, which are up around 24 percent this year, rose more than 5 percent in after-hours trading, topping $948 a share. The previous high was $924.30, set on July 15. (Click here for the latest after-hours quote.)


"They were able to grow their revenue pretty substantially, particularly in their own websites, in spite of having lower overall ad prices,'' said JMP Securities analyst Ronald Josey.

The average "cost-per-click"—the price that advertisers pay Google every time someone clicks on their ad—fell around 8 percent from the same period last year. Paid clicks increased by 26 percent. Internationally-generated revenue represented 56 percent of the total revenue, up from last year's 53 percent.

"That's the key story, their ad volume growth is outpacing the decline cost per clicks,'' Josey said.
Net income rose 36 percent to $2.97 billion, or $8.75 a share, in the third quarter from $2.18 billion, or $6.53 a share, in the year-earlier period.

Google beats top and bottom line estimates

 

David Garrity, GVA Research, provides analysis to Google's better than expected Q3 earnings.

Excluding items, Google said earnings rose to $10.74 per share. Revenue increased 12 percent to $14.89 billion from $13.3 billion a year ago.

Analysts had expected Google to report earnings excluding items of $10.34 a share on $14.79 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

Earlier this week, Google's rival Yahoo has reported a slight dip in its revenue as display-ad revenue has been under pressure.