Google, Inc. (GOOG) stepped up once again and beat the Street, posting earnings of $4.66 per share, 31 cents better than the consensus of $4.35. Revenue was also ahead of the mark, coming in at $5.52 billion against the expected $4.05 billion.
The solid performance builds on the recent trend of strong second-quarter earnings, giving the market a nice boost over the last 4 days and setting the stage for the first winning week for the major averages in the last month.
Google noted that it was able to expand its margins during the quarter, with operating income increasing to 34% of revenue from 29% last year. Paid clicks, another closely watched Google and search engine performance metric, were up 15%.
CEO Eric Schmidt also chimed in and added some bullish sentiment, saying that, “Google’s business appears to have stabilized, despite the still weak economic environment.”
Shares of GOOG are down 3% in after-market trade.
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