Alphabet shares rose
What’s happening :- Shares of Google-parent Alphabet rose in after-hours trading on Thursday following the release of the company’s first-quarter results.
What happened :- The tech giant reported stronger-than-expected sales and earnings for the latest quarter.Alphabet announced a dividend hike as well as a buyback plan, lending further support to its stoc
How were the results :- The Mountain View, California-based company reported low double-digit sales growth for the first quarter.
- Revenues rose 12% year-over-year to $90.23 billion, topping consensus estimates of $89.2 billion.
- Earnings came in at $2.81 per share, surpassing Wall Street expectations of $2.01 per share.
Alphabet shares
Why it matters -: Alphabet achieved strong growth in its key advertising and cloud businesses, helping the company report better-than-expected quarterly results.
However, these results were generated before US President Donald Trump triggered the global trade war. Alphabet is yet to comment on the impact of global trade tensions on its performance ahead. Instead, the company’s chief business officer Philipp Schindler said, “We’re obviously not immune to the macro environment, but we wouldn’t want to speculate about potential impacts.”
Alphabet stock gains
After several weeks of market turmoil, the company’s upbeat earnings, dividend hike and share repurchase plan supported investor sentiment.Revenue from YouTube ads jumped 10% year-over-year to $8.9 billion, while revenue from Google’s Cloud business surged 28% to $12.3 billion during the quarter.
The company closed the quarter with more than 270 million paid subscriptions and announced a 5% hike to its dividend.
CEO Sundar Pichai said the company is making progress with its AI efforts, adding that its AI Overviews offering now has 1.5 billion users per month.Alphabet’s board also announced a share repurchase plan worth $70 billion
Alphabet shares rose 4.8%
How shares responded :- Alphabet’s shares gained 4.8% to $166.95 in extended trading hours on Thursday, following the release of quarterly results. The stock has lost around 16% year-to-date.
What to watch :- Investors will continue monitoring the company’s AI investments. Alphabet re-affirmed its plan to spend $75 billion on its cloud and AI infrastructure this year, indicating its bullishness about new-age technologies