Alphabet shares continue to decline: Alphabet exceeds expectations in numbers | 01/31/24

Alphabet made more in its fiscal fourth quarter of 2023. Earnings per share rose to $1.64 per share in the current reporting period from $1,050 in the same quarter last year. Analysts had previously expected earnings per share of $1,591, meaning Google's parent company was ahead of estimates on earnings.

Meanwhile, sales reached $86.31 billion after revenue of $76.05 billion a year ago. Here, analysts' prior estimates were $78.52 billion, which is why Alphabet performed better than expected.

Google's advertising business continues to grow strongly — but not as quickly as Wall Street expected. Parent company Alphabet announced Tuesday that advertising revenue in the fourth quarter rose 11 percent year-over-year to $65.5 billion. Analysts on average were expecting more than $65.8 billion.

Google search advertising remains the group's most important source of money. Sales here rose from $42.6 to $48 billion last quarter. The video affiliate increased ad revenue from about $8 to $9.2 billion.

The development of Google's advertising business is being closely monitored. The central question here is whether competitors' attempts to use artificial intelligence to display direct answers instead of links will have an impact on Google.

The cloud business grew from $7.3 billion to $9.2 billion. The division, which posted an operating loss of $186 million in the same quarter last year, is now in the black at $864 million.

In so-called “other bets” — future projects like self-driving cars or delivery drones — sales for all companies rose from $226 to $657 million. The division's operating losses have been significantly reduced: from $1.24 billion a year ago to $863 million now.

Alphabet shares fell 7.35% to $141.80 in US trading on the Nasdaq.

Editorial team finanzen.ch/awp International