What Held Alphabet Back in Q1

April 30, 2019 by Chris Lange

When Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) released its first-quarter financial results after the markets closed on Monday, the tech giant said that it had $11.90 in earnings per share (EPS) and $36.34 billion in revenue. That compared with consensus estimates of $10.56 in EPS and $37.34 billion in revenue, as well as the $13.33 per share and $31.15 billion reported in the same period of last year.

The Google segment posted first-quarter revenues of $36.17 billion, up from $31.00 billion a year ago. Operating income rose from $8.37 billion to $9.33 billion. The operating loss on Other Bets totaled $868 million, up from $571 million in the year-ago quarter.

In the first quarter, year-over-year traffic acquisition costs paid to Google Network members fell by about four percentage points to 69% of Network revenues, or $3.48 billion. Payments to distribution partners totaled $3.38 billion, about 13% of websites revenues. Total traffic acquisition costs rose from $6.29 billion to $6.86 billion.

Paid clicks on Google websites increased 39% year over year and were down 9% sequentially. Aggregate cost per click fell 19% compared with the year-ago quarter and was up 5% sequentially.

Alphabet did not offer any guidance in the report. However, the consensus estimates call for $11.46 in EPS and $39.03 billion in revenue for the second quarter.

Shares of Alphabet closed Monday at $1,296.20, in a 52-week range of $977.66 to $1,296.97. The consensus price target is $1,357.42. Following the announcement, the stock was down about 8% at $1,196.00 in early trading indications Tuesday.