Google Gags on Q4 Estimates: Fool by Numbers

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On Jan. 31, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) released Q4 and full fiscal 2005 earnings for the period ending Dec. 31, 2005.

• Google reported revenues of $1.92 billion for the fourth quarter, an 86% increase over the same quarter last year.
• Investors ran for the hills today, sending the stock lower by more than 8% as of this writing. The concern? Google's $1.54 in per-share earnings (after excluding stock-based compensation expense) fell well short of the Street's expectations of $1.76 per stub. But, of course, this is silly: Google doesn't give guidance.

(Figures in thousands, except per-share data)

Income Statement Highlights

	Avg. Est.	Q4 2005	Q4 2004	% Change
Sales	$1,290,000	$1,919,093	$1,031,501	+86%
Net Profit	--	$372,208	$204,100	+82.4%
EPS	$1.76	$1.22	$0.71	+71.8%

Get back to basics with a look at the .

Margin Checkup

	Q4 2005	Q4 2004	Change
Gross Margin	59.60%	56.01%	+3.59%
Op. Margin	29.68%	29.36%	+0.33%
Net Margin	19.39%	19.79%	-0.39%

Margins are the earnings engine. See how they work.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Assets	FY 2005	FY 2004	% Change
Cash+ ST Invest.	$8,034,227	$2,132,297	+276.8%
Inventory	$-	$-	N/A
Accounts Rec.	$687,976	$311,836	+120.6%

Liabilities
Long-Term Debt	$-	$-	N/A
Accounts Pay.	$115,575	$32,672	+253.7%

Cash Flow Highlights

	FY 2005	FY 2004	% Change
Cash From Ops	$2,459,422	$977,044	+151.7%
Capital Expend.	$838,217	$318,995	+162.8%
Free Cash Flow	$1,621,205	$658,049	+146.4%

Find out why Fools always follow the money.

Related Companies:

• Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL)
• Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT)
• Napster (Nasdaq: NAPS)
• Time Warner (NYSE: TWX)
• United Online (Nasdaq: UNTD)
• Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO)

Related Foolishness:

• Is Google about to take a Napster?
• AOL betrayed Google.
• Mmmmmm, that Apple is juicy.

Fool by Numbers is designed to give you the raw earnings information in a timely fashion, putting all the numbers you need in one easy-to-read place. But at The Motley Fool, we believe numbers tell only part of the story, so check Fool.com for more of our in-depth discussion of what the numbers mean.

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Fool contributor Tim Beyers didn't own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story at the time of publication. You can find out what is in his portfolio by checking Tim's Fool profile . The Motley Fool has an ironclad disclosure policy .