By Salma El-Sakka
Alphabet Inc. shares fell sharply in after-hours trading Wednesday after the Google parent company reported third-quarter results that missed Wall Street expectations. The stock slid about 9% to $295.20 within an hour of the market close.
Profit and revenue fall short
Net income for the July-September period dropped to $26.17 billion from $34.98 billion a year earlier. Revenue rose 25% year-over-year to $127.58 billion, but fell slightly below the $127.97 billion average analyst forecast compiled by FactSet. Earnings per share came in at $2.12, well below the roughly $3.01 analysts had anticipated.
Equity investment loss weighs on results
The quarter included an $8.7 billion loss on equity investments, which significantly reduced profitability. It was not immediately clear whether the reported earnings figure is directly comparable to analyst estimates.
Pichai emphasizes AI momentum
Chief Executive Sundar Pichai described the quarter as strong, noting the company is now on a half-trillion-dollar annual revenue run rate. He said the Gemini AI assistant has reached one billion users, making it the fastest-growing product in Google's history.
