Alphabet Shares Up 4.5% In Extended Trading On Strong Q1 Revenue Growth

Summary

• Strong advertising revenue and cloud business fuelled a 34 percent year-over-year growth in first-quarter revenue.
• Alphabet’s net income more than doubled to US$17.93 billion from US$6.84 billion in the year-ago quarter.
• The Google owner will repurchase an additional US$50 billion of its class C capital stock.

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) rose over 4.52 percent in the extended trading on April 27 as Google’s parent company posted robust results for the first quarter soon after the market’s closing bell.

Alphabet posted a 34 percent year-over-year growth in its revenue following a strong growth in the company sales from advertisements and cloud business.

Revenues during the three months ended March 31 totaled US$55.31 billion, compared to US$41.16 billion in the first quarter of 2020.

Net income more than doubled during the quarter to US$17.93 billion from US$6.84 billion in the year-ago quarter. Diluted EPS soared to US$26.26 from US$9.87.

Alphabet noted a gain of US$4.84 billion from some undisclosed equity investments. The gain increased the provision for net income by US$3.30 billion. It also recorded US$665 million as performance fees.

Meanwhile, the company said its board has authorized to buy back an additional US$50 billion of its class C capital stock.

Source: Refinitiv, Alphabet's quarterly revenue from 2019.

The stay-at-home and social distancing norms following the coronavirus outbreak last year increased consumer activity online. More people used Google search and other services to stay informed and entertained.

Advertising revenue from Google jumped to US$44.69 billion from US$33.76 billion in the year-ago period. YouTube advertising revenue rose to US$6 billion.

Total revenue from Google services, which also includes Android, Chrome and Google Play, came in at US$51.18 billion, up from US$38.20 billion in the first quarter last year. Operating income in this unit increased to US$19.55 billion from US$11.55 billion.

The cloud business revenue totaled US$4.05 billion compared to US$2.78 billion while its operating loss narrowed to US$974 million.

California-based Alphabet’s total traffic acquisition cost in the first quarter was US$9.71 billion, against US$7.45 billion in the year-ago quarter.

In 2020, the company recorded revenue of US$182.53 billion and a net income of US$40.27 billion.

Alphabet’s stock was trading at US$2,411.49 in the after-hours trading on Tuesday. The company’s share price grew over 30 percent in 2020 and is up 37 percent year to date.