Google Does Well By Not Doing Badly
By Robert Marich -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/21/2008 12:00:00 AM MT
The Web-services sector—and perhaps the U.S. economy generally—dodged a bullet when Google reported solid first-quarter earnings, allaying fears of a slowdown in its search ad business that could drag down its profits.
Google last week posted net earnings of $1.31 billion, or $4.12 per share, compared with $1 billion ($3.18) one year earlier. That per-share figure was in line with optimistic analyst forecasts. Gross revenue climbed 42% to $5.19 billion.
Google said its paid-ad clicks rose 20% globally and translated into even better earnings because those clicks were more productive than in the past.
Wall Street held its breath prior to the earnings announcement because ComScore counted just a 1.8% increase in first-quarter U.S. consumer clicks on Google search ads (excluding international activity). Google search metrics, plus indications that advertising on social Websites at other companies was falling short of expectations, left investors to wonder if a slowdown was at hand in the booming Web-services sector—a star of the lagging media sector.
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