Google Parent Alphabet Q4 Profit Beats Wall Street

(RTTNews) - Alphabet Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL), the parent company of Google, Monday reported a profit for the fourth quarter that trumped Wall Street estimates, driven largely revenue growth in search and advertising.

Alphabet reported fourth-quarter profit of $8.95 billion or $12.77 per share, compared with loss of $3.02 billion or $4.35 per share last year. On average, 31 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $10.86 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Last year's bottom line was negatively impacted by the tax reforms that resulted in additional tax expense of $9.9 billion.

Revenues for the quarter jumped 22 percent to $39.28 billion from $32.32 billion last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $38.94 billion for the quarter.

Google advertising revenues rose to $32.64 billion from $27.23 billion last year, while Google other revenues increased to $6.49 billion from $4.97 billion.

Paid clicks on Google properties jumped 66 percent from last year and 22 percent from previous quarter. Meanwhile, cost-per-click dropped 29 percent from a year ago and 9 percent from prior quarter.

"In 2018 we delivered strong revenue growth, up 23% year over year to $136.8 billion, and up 22% for the fourth quarter to $39.3 billion," said Ruth Porat, Chief Financial Officer of Alphabet and Google. "With great opportunities ahead, we continue to make focused investments in the talent and infrastructure needed to bring exceptional products and experiences to our users, advertisers and partners around the globe."

GOOG closed Monday's trading at $1,132.80, up $22.05 or 1.99%, on the Nasdaq. The stock, however, slipped $24.36 or 2.15% in the after-hours trading.