The search engine giant's quarterly net profit rose 69 percent, to a staggering $1 billion:
Net income rose to $1.0 billion, or $3.18 per diluted share, from the year-earlier quarter's $592 million, or $1.95 a share. Excluding stock-option expenses, profit was $3.68 per share versus $2.29 a year before.
Gross revenue rose 63 percent to $3.66 billion, including traffic acquisition costs of $1.13 billion paid out to affiliated Web sites that act as billboards for Google ads.
"Like last quarter, Google didn't crush the quarter but the Street is getting used to that. And the company is showing good gains versus Yahoo," Global Crown Capital analyst Martin Pyykkonen said.
Wall Street was looking for a net profit, on average, of $2.91 per share, according to Reuters Estimates. Excluding stock-option expenses and one-time items, analysts' consensus profit estimate was $3.31 per share.
Analysts had expected gross revenue, on average, of $3.57 billion, according to Reuters Estimates. Forecasts ranged from $3.43 billion to $3.70 billion.