Microsoft missed this morning, but the kids are now digging Google’s results. I remain uneasy about Google’s near-term prospects in the face of rapid cuts to advertising spend, but there’s no point fighting the numbers:
GOOG Reported A Cleanly Positive Q4 – $4.22B in net revenue & $5.10 in non-GAAP EPS vs. our/Street estimates of $4.15B/$4.12B and $5.03/$4.96, respectively. Q/Q revenue growth of 4% came in ahead of 1%-2% expectations.
[via Citi]
It’s worth pointing out that estimates had come down considerably in recent months, with $5.10 as consensus for the December quarter as recently as eight weeks ago, and $5.17 before that. Nevertheless, this result is not a bottom line shocker, so unless the Google kids say something wild-eyed on the conference call, this likely won’t make the market as crazed tomorrow as Microsoft did today.
I have to confess to being uneasy with the option repricing, with Google allowing employees to swap options 1:1 from old prices to current prices, albeit with 12 months added to vesting. That’s cool if I’m an employee, but it will cost $460-million, and it’s not an option-option afforded to shareholders. How goes Google propose to make them whole?
Anyone else see anything in the Google results worth pointing out?
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