Google Parent Alphabet Q3 Profit Rises, But Sales Miss View; Stock Down

(RTTNews) - Alphabet Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL), the parent company of Google, Thursday reported a surge in profit for the third quarter, driven largely revenue growth in search and advertising. Earnings for the quarter trumped Wall Street estimates easily, however, revenues fell short of expectations, sending the search giant's stock down by about 5 percent in extended session.

Alphabet's third-quarter profit surged to $9.19 billion or $13.06 per share from $6.73 billion or $9.57 per share last year. On average, 32 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $10.40 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Revenues for the quarter jumped 21 percent to $33.74 billion from $27.77 billion last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $34.05 billion for the quarter.

Google advertising revenues rose to $28.95 billion from $24.07 billion last year, while Google other revenues rose to $4.64 billion from $3.59 billion.

Paid clicks on Google properties jumped 62 from last year and 10 percent from previous quarter. Meanwhile, aggregate cost-per-click dropped 28 percent from a year ago and 7 percent from prior quarter.

"Our business continues to have strong momentum globally, led by mobile search and our many products that help billions of people every day," said Ruth Porat, Chief Financial Officer of Alphabet and Google. "Alphabet revenues were $33.7 billion, up 21% versus the third quarter of 2017, and we remain focused on delivering on the opportunities we see."

GOOG closed Thursday's trading at $1,095.57, up $44.86 or 4.27%, on the Nasdaq. The stock, however, slipped $53.57 or 4.89% in the after hours trading.