Google's profit rise could not satisfy investors demand for Stronger Growth
Google's Q4 results are out and with the strong increase in profits Google's shares fell by 4%. World's leading search engine still lagged in meeting the expectations of the investors.
Expectations "got higher as they came closer to reporting and they delivered fundamentally sound numbers, but did not deliver a blowout," said Martin Pyykkonen, senior analyst at Janco Partners. "I think the stock will recover. I don't think it will fall through the floor.
"Earnings were much ahead of expectations, but top-line fell slightly below expectations," said Sameet Sinha, analyst at JMP Securities. "I think that is because cost per click was up about 2 percent sequentially, and we had been expecting closer to 5 percent growth." Cost per click is the price that advertisers pay Google when a Web surfer clicks on an ad.
With total increase of about 17% to $6.67 billion, google is the latest major tech firm to close out with improved financial results in 2009. Google's problems in China have also been an overhang on the stock, which is down about 12 percent since hitting a 52-week high in early January.
Google executives said on Thursday that the company would invest heavily in 2010 as it seeks to stay ahead in the search business that delivers the lion's share of its revenue and as it spends on initiatives to expand into new markets.