Search giant Google released its first quarter earnings report this afternoon, but unfortunately for new CEO Larry Page, the company didn’t quite repeat past performances. Google failed to meet analysts’ estimates in at least one respect, and investors are now causing its shares to drop in after-hours trading.
To start with the good news: Google reported $8.58 billion in gross revenue, a 27 percent year-over-year increase, and net revenue of $6.54 billion, well ahead of an expected $6.32 billion.
Google-watchers may also be interested to know that its count of full-time employees stands at 26,316 (as of March 31st), up from 24,400 on December 31st. And the company’s sitting on top of $36.7 billion in “cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities,” versus $35.0 billion at that earlier point in time.
Then CFO Patrick Pichette added in a statement, “These results demonstrate the value of search and search ads to our users and customers, as well as the extraordinary potential of areas like display and mobile. It’s clear that our past investments have been crucial to our success today – which is why we continue to invest for the long term.”
The problem appears to be that Google came in low with respect to earnings per share. Analysts expected to see the company report earnings of $8.13 per share, and it reported $8.08 per share instead as operating expenses rise.
So now Google’s stock is down 5.27 percent in after-hours trading, which is fairly shocking drop.
One more noteworthy fact: Larry Page did not contribute a statement to Google’s official earnings release.