Google parent company Alphabet (GOOGL) reported first-quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations as its cloud computing unit turned profitable for the very first time.
The technology giant also announced a new $70 billion U.S. stock repurchase program.
In terms of its financial results, Alphabet reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.17 U.S. versus $1.07 U.S. that had been expected, according to Refinitiv data.
The company’s revenue amounted to $69.79 billion U.S. compared to $68.90 billion U.S. that was forecast on Wall Street.
The latest results snap a string of four consecutive quarters in which Alphabet missed analysts’ consensus estimates regarding its earnings.
Alphabet’s YouTube advertising revenue totaled $6.69 billion U.S. in Q1, compared to $6.60 billion U.S. expected.
With fears of a recession growing, advertisers have been scaling back their online marketing budgets. Consequently, advertising revenue fell from a year ago to $54.55 billion U.S.
However, the big news coming out of the earnings print is that Alphabet is finally generating a profit in its cloud computing unit, which competes with Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT).
The cloud unit reported operating income of $191 million U.S. in Q1 of this year, up from a loss of $706 million U.S. a year ago.
Revenue in Alphabet’s “Other Bets” segment, which includes life sciences unit Verily and self-driving car company Waymo, came in at $288 million U.S., down from $440 million U.S. a year ago.
Earlier this year, Alphabet announced 12,000 employee layoffs, about 6% of its workforce, as it grapples with a slowing economy. The company reported a $2.6 billion U.S. Q1 charge related to those layoffs, as well as some office closures.
Alphabet’s stock is down 13% over the last 12 months and trading at $103.85 U.S. per share
