Friday is shaping up to be a nice day for Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)(NASDAQ:GOOG) shareholders after shares jumped 4.3% in mid-morning trading, rising $38.56 to $930 each. The stock hit a new all-time high of $935.90 before retreating slightly.
Shares of Google’s parent company jumped because it released earnings after the market closed on Thursday night that exceeded expectations.
Revenues rose 22% (or 24% in constant currency), which easily beat analyst expectations. Growth was led by ad revenues, which increased 18.8% to $21.4 billion. Other Google revenue increased 49% to $3.1 billion. And the company’s Other Bets division – which includes things like Google Fiber and Nest smart thermostats – saw revenue jump 48% to $244 million.
Analysts expected Alphabet to post $24.22 billion in revenue. The company delivered $24.75 billion in revenue.
Earnings came in at $7.73 per share for the quarter, easily beating analyst expectations of $7.39 per share. Earnings increased nearly 25% versus the same quarter last year.
Some investors were expecting the company to miss earnings, thanks to a YouTube ad scandal. An investigation found major brand ads were being placed near neo-Nazi and other inappropriate videos. Many of the world’s largest companies announced they would pause ads on the platform until the company made changes.
Alphabet continues to be a free cash flow machine. Despite spending billions on capital expenditures, the company still generated $7 billion in free cash flow in its most recent quarter. This bumped the company’s cash hoard to $92.4 billion. Much of that capital is stashed away overseas.
