(By Tim) Google Inc. (NasdaqGS:GOOG) is scheduled to report its first quarter 2010 earnings results on Thursday April 15th, 2010. Google should benefit from an increased desire from advertisers to increase their return on investment as internet advertising recovers in the market. Paid clicks have remained strong on Google's website and with affiliate sites with a gross year over year increase of approximately 10%. Google reduced expenses during the height of the recession and this should drive margins during the coming quarter.
Google is a public and profitable company focused on search services.
Named for the mathematical term 'googol', Google operates web sites at
many international domains, with the most trafficked being
www.google.com. Google is widely recognized as the `World''s Best
Search Engine` and is fast, accurate and easy to use. The company also
serves corporate clients, including advertisers, content publishers and
site managers with cost-effective advertising and a wide range of
revenue generating search services. Google''s breakthrough technology
and continued innovation serve the company''s mission of `organizing
the world''s information and making it universally accessible and
useful.'
For the fourth quarter of 2009, GOOG reported earnings of $6.79 dollars per share on 6.67 billion dollars of revenue. Revenue rose 17% year-over-year and 12% sequentially. Mean earnings per share estimates for the fourth quarter were $6.46 per share, or a difference of 31 cents per share. Google again demonstrated impressive cost discipline. Non-GAAP operating margins at Google increased by 300 basis points to 41%. Non-GAAP net income rose to $2.19 billion or $6.79 per diluted share from $1.62 billion or $5.10 per share in the fourth quarter of 2008. For all of 2009, revenue rose 8.5% to $23.65 billion. Non-GAAP net income rose to $7.3 billion or $22.72 per diluted share from $6.2 billion or $19.49 per diluted share in 2009.
For the 1st quarter of 2010, the average estimate for GOOG is $6.56 with a high estimate of $6.91 and a low estimate of $6.05. Full year average earning estimates for Google are $27.42, with a high estimate of $28.87 and a low estimate of $25.84. Average revenue estimates for the 1st quarter of 2010 are $4.93 billion dollars with a high estimate of 5.12 billion dollars and a low estimate of 4.74 billion dollars. Full year 2010 average revenue estimates are 20.79 billion dollars with a high estimate of 21.82 billion dollars and a low estimate of 19.71 billion dollars. Over the past 90 days, average earning estimates have increased from $6.36 per share to $6.56 per share. During the past 60 days, average earning estimates have increased by 5 cents per share. Growth estimate for GOOG is for a 27% increase in comparison to a 10.7% increase for the industry and a 41% increase for the S&P 500.
Google is trading in the upper half of its 52-week range of $290-$629 at approximately 568, which is above its 200 day moving average near 519. GOOG has a price to the earning ratio of 24, with zero debts and a market cap of 180.36 billion dollars. The ESP change from the third quarter of 2009 was 33% and its 3-year EPS growth rate is 27%. Sales growth last quarter grew 17%, and 3-year sales growth is 30%. Google has an annual pre-tax margin of 40.4%, and an annual return on equity of 23.1%.
