Google shares hit new record; market value exceeds Yahoo and eBay - update 3

02/03/05 - newratings.com

NEW YORK, February 3 (newratings.com) – Online search giant, Google Inc (GOOG), reported a seven-fold increase in its fourth-quarter profits, boosted by its robust web search advertising revenue gains in the quarter ended December 2004. The company's share price appreciated to a new record high of $216.80 before closing with a 7.3% gain on Wednesday.

The US-based internet search company said in a statement late on Tuesday that its net income increased to $204.1 million or $0.71 per share in 4Q04, from $27.3 million or $0.10 per share in the year-ago quarter. The company reported net revenues of $1.03 billion for 4Q04, almost double the 4Q03 revenues of $512.2 million. Google's 4Q04 results were significantly ahead of the average forecasts of the Wall Street analysts. The company's 4Q04 earnings amounted to $0.92 per share, excluding a $60 million charge assumed in the quarter to cover the stock compensation paid to employees. Google's 4Q04 results also beat the company's projections, which had warned in November of a potential deceleration in its revenue growth momentum going forward. The company's CEO, Eric E Schmidt, said on Tuesday that the 4Q04 results were ahead of his expectations. The recent rally in Google's share price has boosted the company's market value to above $56 billion, which is ahead of the market values of the other internet sector giants, Yahoo and eBay.