Alphabet Q4 Profit Misses Street

(RTTNews) - Alphabet Inc., (GOOG, GOOGL), the parent company of Google, Thursday reported an increase in profit for the fourth quarter, reflecting largely revenue growth in search and advertising. Earnings for the quarter fell short of Wall Street expectations, due to higher revenue costs.

Alphabet's fourth-quarter profit rose to $5.33 billion or $7.56 per share from $4.92 billion or $7.06 per share last year.

Adjusted earnings for the quarter rose to $9.36 per share from $8.67 per share last year. On average, 35 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $9.67 per share for the quarter.

Revenues for the quarter grew 22 percent to $26.06 billion from $21.33 billion last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $25.22 billion for the quarter.

The company said aggregate paid clicks increased 36 percent year-over-year and 20 percent from last quarter. Paid clicks on Google websites jumped 43 from last year and 23 percent from previous quarter.

Meanwhile, aggregate cost-per-click dropped 15 percent from a year ago and 9 percent from prior quarter.

"Our growth in the fourth quarter was exceptional -- with revenues up 22% year on year and 24% on a constant currency basis. This performance was led by mobile search and YouTube. We're seeing great momentum in Google's newer investment areas and ongoing strong progress in Other Bets," said Ruth Porat, CFO of Alphabet.

Cost of revenues for the quarter increased from $8.19 billion a year ago to $10.66 billion a year ago.

GOOG closed Thursday's trading at $832.15, down $3.52 or 0.42% on the Nasdaq. The stock further slipped $18.30 or 2.20% in the after-hours trading.