Going into Google’s conference call, expectations were as follows:
- Gross Revenue: $5.2 billion consensus, up 41%
- Net Revenue: $3.1 billion consensus, up 42% (deceleration from 52% in Q4)
- EPS: $4.52
Google ended up
- Hitting revenue exactly in line with consensus at $5.2 billion (or up 42%).
- Beating net revenue with $3.7 billion.
- Its non-GAAP EPS of $4.84 blows away consensus of $4.52.
All in all this was a better than expected report from Google, which explains why the stock is up nearly $80… but the fact remains: Google owes a big thank you to a weak USD.
From Google’s earnings report:
International Revenues - Revenues from outside of the United States totaled $2.65 billion, representing 51% of total revenues in the first quarter of 2008, compared to 47% in the first quarter of 2007 and 48% in the fourth quarter of 2007. Had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the fourth quarter of 2007 through the first quarter of 2008, our revenues in the first quarter of 2008 would have been $18 million lower. Had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the first quarter of 2007 through the first quarter of 2008, our revenues in the first quarter of 2008 would have been $202 million lower.
Perhaps the only people happier than GOOG shareholders are new employees… of which Google added plenty of:
On a worldwide basis, Google employed 19,156 full-time employees as of March 31, 2008, up from 16,805 full-time employees as of December 31, 2007. Of the 2,351 employees added in the first quarter of 2008, approximately 1,500 were associated with DoubleClick. Since the close of the acquisition, Google has conducted a review of its ongoing headcount requirements and approximately 10% of the DoubleClick workforce was laid off in the U.S. in early April.
I could be wrong, but most of these staffers had under-water options and today’s dinger out of the park will bring smiles back to Mountain View… and slow down the exodus of talent. We covered this factor some time ago in Google’s Share Pric and Employee Morale under Pressure.
More live analysis and goodness from SAI.
Subscribe: