Google parent Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) reported its fourth quarter earnings after the bell on Tuesday, beating on earnings per share and coming in roughly even on revenue. But the company fell short on its important cloud segment revenue. The company also dramatically expanded its capital expenditures for the year ahead from $57.9 billion to a planned $75 billion.
Alphabet’s announcement comes as China said it’s launching an antitrust probe into Google in what’s widely seen as a retaliatory measure by Beijing against President Trump’s 10% tariff on goods made in China.
Alphabet is also contending with the fallout from China-based DeepSeek’s AI models, which rocked the tech world last week on news that they were cheaper to train and as capable as leading Silicon Valley companies’ models.
Advertising rival Meta (META) reported earnings last week, easily beating Wall Street’s expectations on the top and bottom lines, but declined to provide full-year guidance. Meta, like Alphabet, is investing heavily in its AI efforts as it seeks to use the technology to improve ad sales and user engagement.
For the quarter Alphabet reported earnings per share (EPS) of $2.15 on revenue of $96.4. Analysts were looking for EPS of $2.13 and revenue of $96.6 billion.
Advertising revenue topped out at $72.4 billion versus expectations of $71.7 billion, while Google Cloud revenue hit $11.9 billion in revenue, falling short of the $12.1 billion Wall Street anticipated.
FILE – Audience members gather at Made By Google for new product announcements at Google on Aug. 13, 2024, in Mountain View, Calif. (AP Photo/Juliana Yamada, File) · ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cloud growth is an important metric for Alphabet as it seeks to gain market share from rivals Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT). Microsoft’s cloud revenue jumped 21% year over year during its most recent quarter, climbing to $40 billion. Still, that was shy of Wall Street’s expectations of $41.1 billion, sending shares of the Windows maker lower.
Google, like Meta, is also awaiting the outcome of Trump’s advocacy for TikTok, the short-form video app that was supposed to shut down its US operations last month but has continued to run as the president seeks a workaround to avoid an outright ban.
Google also continues to face regulatory risks. Late last year, Google appealed a ruling after the courts found that the company abused its monopoly power over the search business. One potential remedy, suggested by government lawyers, is a breakup of the company. The market has largely shrugged off immediate concerns of a drastic shake-up, however.
Alphabet shares are up 41% over the past 12 months, outpacing Amazon shares, which rose 39%, and easily beating Microsoft shares, which are up just 2% during the same time period.
