GOOGL Stock Price Flat At Close, Down After Hours As Google Posts Q4 Earnings

Google shares were roughly flat when the market closed on Thursday after Alphabet posted earnings less than what Wall Street expected. The after hours GOOGL stock price, however, did take an initial dive before rallying toward its $1,181.50 close.

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, revealed its earnings report for fiscal quarter ending December 2017 shortly after the market closed. The company posted a $32.32 billion revenue, higher than Wall Street expectations. However, the company posted $9.70 earnings per share, missing expectations. Thomson Reuters consensus estimate expected the company to post a $31.86 revenue, and $9.98 earnings per share.

Before Google announced its Q4 earnings, the company’s stock price was moving up and down for the past few days. Google’s shares were priced at $1,163.32 about an hour before the earnings call. By the time the market closed, Google shares were at $1,181.59. However, stock prices have been on an upward trend throughout January and previous months.

"Our business is driving great growth, with 2017 revenues of $110.9 billion, up 23% year on year, and fourth quarter revenues of $32.3 billion, up 24% year on year,” Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat said in a statement. “Our full year operating income growth continues to underscore our core strength, and on top of this, we continue to make substantial investments for the long-term in exciting new businesses.”

Google Post Strong Q4 Result In Ads Business

Google’s advertising business was up from 2016’s Q4. The company posted a $27.22 billion revenue in the last three months ending in December 2017, compared to $22.39 billion in 2016. The company also beat Wall Street’s expectation on aggregated paid clicks. Google posted a 43 percent change year-over-year in aggregated paid clicks, beating the 42.1 percent change expected by StreetAccount.

The increase in revenue and clicks come despite Google’s issues with advertisers last year. Advertisers backed away from YouTube after their ads were found on videos that contained inappropriate content, as well as clips that promoted extremist views. Google also had to testify in late October before congress over Russia’s use of the company’s platforms in the 2016 presidential election. Last October, the search engine company discovered Kremlin-backed ads on YouTube, Gmail and Google Search. Google reportedly found 18 channels on YouTube that were connected to Russian propaganda campaigns.

Google’s Q4 earnings come after the company released a few new gadgets last October, including two new smartphone models, the Pixel 2 and the Pixel 2 XL, and the Google Home Mini. The company also released a larger version of the Google Home in December: the Google Home Max.