Internet titan Google (NSDQ: GOOG) reported blockbuster earnings results Thursday, handily beating Wall Street expectations and sending its stock up over ten percent in after-hours trading. The company reported gross revenue of $9 billion, a 32 percent increase over the same period last year, and well ahead of Wall Street’s consensus expectation of $8.6 billion. Net income (excluding taxes and stock-based compensation) was $2.85 billion, or $8.74 per share, compared to $2.08 billion, or $6.45, in the second quarter of 2010.
Other highlights from the report:
– International sales totaled $4.87 billion, representing 54 percent of total revenue
– Paid clicks increased 18 percent from one year ago but decreased 2 percent from the first quarter
– Operating expenses were $2.97 billion, or 33 percent of revenue, compared to $1.99 billion in the second quarter of 2010, or 29% of revenues.
– At the end of the second quarter, Google was sitting on more than $39 billion in cash and cash equivalents.
– Google’s global headcount now stands at 28,768 full-time employees, up more than 9 percent from 26,316 at the end of last quarter.
– Capital expenditures were $917 million, “the majority of which was related to land and building purchases, and IT infrastructure investments, including data centers, servers, and networking equipment.”
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