Google beats Wall Street expectations

Google Inc's quarterly results exceeded Wall Street expectations with the technology giant continuing to expand its mobile advertising business, pushing its shares into record territory.

Revenue, excluding sales passed on to partner sites, stood at $11.92 billion, according to a statement on Google's website yesterday.

The company keeps raking in money even as investors worry that its search advertising business would decline as consumers spent more time on mobile devices, on which ads were cheaper and less effective than on desktop computers.

Much like its competitors Facebook Inc and Yahoo Inc, Google too, had come under investor pressure as consumers switched to smartphones and tablets for accessing the internet.

Google responded to those concerns yesterday by posting third-quarter financial results that beat analysts' estimates, reporting a profit of $3 billion, or $8.75 a share, during the three months that ended in September.

Excluding items such as expenses for employee stock compensation, Google earned $10.74 a share - topping analysts' estimates of $10.36 a share.

Revenue for the third quarter shot 12 per cent from a year earlier to $14.9 billion and after subtracting commissions paid to Google's advertising partners, its revenue stood at $11.9 billion, some $227 million above analyst estimates.

The results saw Google's shares rise nearly 8 per cent to $959.00 in after-hours trading after closing at $888.79, down $9.24. If the stock were to continue to maintain that momentum in trading today, the shares would reach an all-time high.

While Google continued to struggle with declining mobile revenues, it had been able to avoid denting its revenue by selling more ads at a faster rate.

Meanwhile, the volume of clicks on advertisements rose 26 per cent in the third quarter, the fastest pace this year, which made up for an 8 per cent decline in average-ad prices.

Google is increasing investment to boost capacity and add services that encouraged marketers to direct more spending toward wireless devices.

As a result, the company is on track to make up 33 per cent of the global online-advertising market this year, as against 31 per cent last year, according to EMarketer Inc.