by Mike Wheatley
Google LLC’s parent company Alphabet Inc. delivered a stunning earnings beat as it reported its first-quarter financial results today, with sales also surpassing expectations thanks to rampant growth in its cloud infrastructure business.
The company reported earnings before certain costs such as stock compensation of $5.11 per share, almost double the $2.63-per-share analyst target. Revenue for the period rose 22% from a year earlier, to $109.9 billion, ahead of Wall Street’s $107.2 billion target. Meanwhile, net income surged to $62.58 billion, up from $34.54 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Chief Executive Sundar Pichai (pictured) told analysts on a conference call that the company’s “enterprise AI solutions have become our primary growth driver for the cloud for the first time.” He was referring to artificial intelligence offerings such as Gemini Enterprise, which saw paid monthly active users increase by 40% from the previous quarter.
Google Cloud, which houses the company’s AI products, posted sales of $20.2 billion in the quarter, up 63% from a year earlier and above the Street’s $18.05 billion target. Growth there was led by strong AI and enterprise infrastructure sales, with the company pointed to a growing backlog of $460 billion.
