Google parent company Alphabet (GOOGL) has reported third-quarter financial results that beat Wall Street estimates, fueled by 34% growth in its cloud computing unit.
The online search giant announced earnings per share (EPS) of $3.10 U.S., which topped the $2.33 U.S. expected among analysts.
Revenue in the July through September period totaled $102.35 billion U.S., which was ahead of the $99.89 billion U.S. consensus estimate on Wall Street.
The company’s YouTube advertising revenue came in at $10.26 billion U.S., which beat the $10.01 billion U.S. that was forecast.
Google Cloud revenue amounted to $15.15 billion U.S., beating the $14.74 billion U.S. that analysts had penciled in for Alphabet.
Management said they saw strong 34% year-over-year growth in the cloud business due to rising demand for artificial intelligence (A.I.).
In August of this year, Alphabet landed a $10 billion U.S. cloud contract from Meta Platforms (META) that spans six years.
Over 70% of existing Google Cloud customers also use the company’s A.I. products, said senior executives.
Also, Alphabet’s flagship A.I. app Gemini now has more than 650 million monthly active users, up from 450 million in the year’s second quarter.
The Google search business generated $56.56 billion U.S. in revenue during the quarter, up 15% from a year earlier.
Looking ahead, the company announced another increase in its capital expenditures, saying it now expects 2025 capex to be in a range of $91 billion U.S. to $93 billion U.S.
That’s up from previous forecasts of $75 billion U.S. to $85 billion U.S. in capital expenditures, with most of that going toward A.I. data centres.
GOOGL stock is up 45% so far this year and trading at $274.57 U.S. per share.
