What happened
Shares of Alphabet (GOOGL -1.82%) (GOOG -1.80%) climbed on Friday, even as the major stock indexes fell. As of 12:30 p.m. EDT, the tech-focused conglomerate's stock was up 4.6%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were down 1.1% and 2%, respectively.
So what
Alphabet's third-quarter revenue jumped 14% year over year to $46.2 billion, besting Wall Street's estimates of $42.9 billion. The tech titan's net income, meanwhile, surged 59% to $11.2 billion, or $16.40 per share. That, too, was well above analysts' expectations, which had called for earnings per share of $11.29.
Even as the markets declined, investors bid up Alphabet's shares following its Q3 results. Image source: Getty Images.
Alphabet saw a rebound in Google's search and other advertising revenues, which came under pressure as marketers reduced their spending during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. Revenue in this segment rose 6% to $26.3 billion.
YouTube delivered a particularly strong performance. The popular online video-sharing site saw its ad sales leap 32% to $5 billion. Google Cloud's growth was also impressive. The cloud infrastructure unit saw revenue soar 45% to $3.4 billion.
"We had a strong quarter, consistent with the broader online environment," Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a press release. "It's also a testament to the deep investments we've made in AI and other technologies, to deliver services that people turn to for help, in moments big and small."
Now what
With the COVID-19 crisis driving people to work, learn, shop, and play online more than ever before, Alphabet is likely to see greater demand for its plethora of internet-based services. Today's gain, therefore, could be just the beginning of a far larger long-term move in the tech giant's stock price.
