Google Q4 and Year–End Earnings
Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), reported Q4 and Year–End earnings beating expectations and setting a new record for the company with quarterly earnings exceeding $1b.
Q4 revenue was up 67% to $3.2b. Google earned $3.29 a share or $1.03b for the quarter. Some analysts adjusted these numbers downward to a 24% (instead of 26%) tax rate for the quarter. With that adjustment, Google still earned $2.99 a share, beating average analyst expectations by 7 cents. On the negative side, commissions on revenue generated from advertising partnerships with websites (which are in the thousands) took 81% of the $1.2b in revenue from the partnerships.
Having beaten expectations for 9 out of the 10 quarters the company has been public, a lot is expected from Google in the market. There is also some commentary and grumbling that that kind of track record indicates guidance from the company is too conservative and beating estimates alone doesn’t mean much.
For the year, Google earned $3.08b ($9.94 a share) on revenue of $10.6b compared with net income of $1.47b ($5.02 a share) on revenue of $6.1 for the prior year. Google closed the year with huge cash reserves ($11.2b) but Google also doubled their capital expenditures and almost doubled it’s payroll by increasing staffing to more than 10,500 employees.
More detailed press coverage on Google’s finances can be found at:
