Ad Sales Boost Google Profits

Strong ad sales on its sites helped boost Google's quarterly profits beyond Wall Street expectations.

While so many others are reporting gloom and doom, the behemoth known as Google keeps moving onward and upward. Its fourth quarter net income might have been down to $382 million, or $1.21 a share, from $1.21 billion, or $3.79 a share, but that was due to charges on investments in Clearwire and AOL. But Reuters reports that its earnings were still $5.10 a share, surpassing the average analyst forecast of $4.95.

Revenue was up 18%, to $5.7 billion – not the towering figure it has been in the past, but still respectable, especially given the state of the economy. 67% of the revenue, or $3.81 billion, up 22% from a year ago, came from Google-owned sites like Google.com, and the company ended the year with $16 billion in cash.

The expectation was that pay-per-click ads would fall, and that hit Google stock prices last year, but in the event they’ve gone up 18%.

In after-hours trading, Google stock rose to $314.51 from its Nasdaq close of $306.50.