Google's revenues increased but earnings declined in Q3 2019

Revenues totalled $40.5 billion.

What you need to know

  • Google's parent company, Alphabet, released its earnings report this Monday.
  • The giant saw revenues of $40.5 billion for Q3 2019, up 20% from the same period last year.
  • However, net income declined from $9.19 billion in the same quarter the previous year to $7.06 billion this year.

Google posted below-expected earnings for Q3 2019. The company's revenues grew 20% year-over-year, but earnings per share were far below analysts' expectations. The company's stock dipped nearly 4% in after-hours trading following the announcement, before stabilizing at a 1.5% decrease later on.

Revenues for the period fared slightly better than expectations and, at $40.5 billion for the quarter, represented a 20% increase YoY compared to $33.7 billion last year.

Net income, on the other hand, took a significant dip from $9.2 billion last year to $7.1 billion in Q3 this year. On a per-share basis, earnings were down from $13.06 to $10.12, far below analysts' expectations of $12.35 per share (via Bloomberg), hence the tumble in stock prices.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai credited the company's advances in mobile search, YouTube and cloud services as behind the increase in revenues:

"I am extremely pleased with the progress we made across the board in the third quarter, from our recent advancements in search and quantum computing to our strong revenue growth driven by mobile search, YouTube and Cloud. We're focused on providing the most helpful services to our users and partners, and we see many opportunities ahead."

As expected, Google accounted for an overwhelming majority of the company's revenues, raking in $40.3 billion this quarter. The company's 'Other Bets' brought in just $155 million during the same period. Also per usual, these other bets are still not paying off for Alphabet, with operating losses on these divisions rising from $727 million last year to $941 million this time around.

Google's own performance was healthy as usual, with advertising revenues of $33.9 billion, up 17.1% year-over-year. The company's other divisions also did well, with 'other revenues' — which includes the company's cloud division, its hardware business and Play Store proceeds — rising an impressive 39% compared to Q3 last year at $6.4 billion.

Google CFO Ruth Porat declined to comment on reports Google was looking to enter the fitness wearable market with an acquistion of Fitbit (via CNBC).

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by Muhammad Jarir Kanji