Alphabet Reports Earnings, Beats on EPS but Misses on Cloud Revenue

Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), the parent company of Google, released its fourth quarter earnings after the market closed on Tuesday. The tech giant exceeded analysts' expectations for earnings per share (EPS) but slightly missed on revenue forecasts. However, Alphabet's cloud segment revenue fell short of expectations.

Key Financial Metrics

For the quarter, Alphabet reported EPS of $2.15 on revenue of $96.4 billion. Analysts had estimated EPS of $2.13 and revenue of $96.6 billion. Advertising revenue reached $72.4 billion, surpassing estimates of $71.7 billion. However, Google Cloud revenue came in at $11.9 billion, below Wall Street's anticipation of $12.1 billion.

Cloud Performance and Competition

Cloud growth remains crucial for Alphabet as it competes with Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT). During its recent quarter, Microsoft's cloud revenue witnessed a 21% year-over-year surge, reaching $40 billion. However, it still fell below Wall Street's projection of $41.1 billion.

Regulatory Challenges

Google faces ongoing regulatory risks. Last year, the company appealed a ruling that deemed it had abused its monopoly in the search market. The suggested solution,提出的解决方案, proposed by government lawyers, is a potential breakup of the company. However, the market has largely dismissed immediate worries of a significant shake-up.

Market Performance

Despite these challenges, Alphabet shares have climbed 41% over the past 12 months. This outperforms Amazon's 39% growth and Microsoft's modest 2% gain during the same period.