Google parent company Alphabet released its latest earnings report after closing bell tonight, posting adjusted earnings of $7.50 per share on $20.26 billion in revenue. Analysts had been expecting earnings of $7.96 cents per share and $20.38 billion in revenue for the first quarter.
Google segment continues strong growth
Alphabet’s core segment again accounted for the vast majority of total revenue at $20.1 billion. Websites revenue grew 20% to $14.3 billion, while Network Members websites’ revenue increased 3% to $3.7 billion. Ad revenue rose 16% to $18 billion, while Google Other revenues increased 24% to $2.1 billion.
Aggregate paid clicks increased 29% year over year, while paid clicks on Google websites grew 38%. Paid clicks on Network Members’ websites increased 2%, while aggregate cost per click declined 9%. Cost per click on Google Websites fell 12%, while cost per click on Network Members’ websites declined 8% year over year.
Traffic acquisition costs for Network Members edged slightly higher to $2.6 billion, while traffic acquisition costs to Google Network members as a percentage of members rose to 70%. Traffic acquisition costs to distribution partners rose to $1.2 billion, with distribution partners as a percentage of website revenues remaining flat at 8%. Total traffic acquisition costs during the quarter were $3.8 billion or 21% of ad revenues.
“Our Q1 results represent a tremendous start to the year with 17% revenue growth year on year and 23% growth on a constant currency basis,” said Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat in a statement. “We’re thoughtfully pursuing big bets and building exciting new technologies, in Google and our Other Bets, that position us well for long term growth.”
Google Fiber expanding
Other Bets revenues surged to $166 million, although the segment’s operating losses widened from $633 million in last year’s first quarter to $802 million in this year’s first quarter. Management said on the conference call that most of those losses came from spending on the Fiber business, which is expanding to new cities.
Class A shares of Alphabet fell 5.3% in after-hours trades to as low as $738.80.
