Google and General Electric disappoint analysts' expectations and lose ground on the stock market. On the Nasdaq, the internet giant dropped 7,88% after releasing a disappointing quarterly report despite the increase in profit and revenues. Profits jumped 6,4% to $2,71 billion, or $8,22 per share. Excluding stock option costs, earnings per share were $9,50 while analysts were targeting $10,5.
The bottom line of Google's accounts was impacted by currency exchange rates, increased spending, changes to ad formats and increased sales of mobile advertising. At the root of the disappointment of investors, the challenges that the search engine has on other fronts, starting from the competition with Facebook. CEO Larry Page dismisses the criticisms: there's nothing disappointing about the results. ”I am very happy – he said – We had a good quarter, the conditions are for 2012 which will be a fantastic year”. In any case, Page ends the first year at the helm of Google with revenues for the first time above 10 billion in a quarter, at 10,58 billion dollars, an increase of 25%.
On the other hand, revenues fell for General Electric, which dropped 1,25% on the Nyse. In fact, turnover fell to about 37,9 billion dollars from 41,23 billion in the same period of 2010 (-8%), more than the expectations which expected a drop to 40,03 billion. The weakness comes from Europe, where the group is now preparing to restructure the business and instead strengthen itself in emerging markets. Earnings were also down to $3,73 billion by (-18%), 35 cents per share. On a like-for-like basis, earnings per share were up 3% to 37 cents per share. However, a positive signal comes from the order book, the largest in its history at 200 billion dollars.
