Shares of Alphabet spiked Wednesday after the Google parent company reported blowout fourth-quarter earnings.
The company’s stock was up more than 9% in the morning.
Alphabet reported earnings per share of $30.69, compared to the $27.34 per share analysts expected, according to Refinitiv. It also blew past analysts’ revenue projections of $72.17 billion, coming in at $75.33 billion.
The search giant relies heavily on Google’s advertising revenue, which soared in the quarter. Revenue for the segment came in at $61.24 billion, up 33% from $46.2 billion in the year-earlier period.
“Very robust advertising revenue growth implies the overall demand environment has stayed healthy amidst volatile supply chain and macro uncertainties,” MKM Managing Director Rohit Kulkarni said in a note to investors.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google
Anindito Mukherjee | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The company’s cloud also reported revenue growth of 45% to $5.54 billion. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said on the earnings call the company saw 65% year-over-year growth in the number of cloud deals worth over $1 billion.
The strong report led at least nine Wall Street firms to raise their price target on the stock. UBS’ Lloyd Walmsley, raised his price target to $3,900 from $3,800, representing an upside of 41.7% from Tuesday’s close.
Alphabet’s strong earnings report follows a year of outperformance. The stock surged 65% last year, beating all other Big Tech companies and more than tripling gains in the S&P 500. Alphabet on Tuesday said its board approved plans for a 20-for-1 stock split.
— CNBC’s Jennifer Elias contributed to this report.
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