cash equivalents

Search giant Google released its first quarter earnings report this afternoon, but unfortunately for new CEO Larry Page, the company didn’t quite repeat past performances.  Google failed to meet analysts’ estimates in at least one respect, and investors are now causing its shares to drop in after-hours trading.

To start with the good news: Google reported $8.58 billion in gross revenue, a 27 percent year-over-year increase, and net revenue of $6.54 billion, well ahead of an expected $6.32 billion.

The fourth quarter of 2010 could have gone much worse for Yahoo, judging from the earnings report the company released this afternoon.  Yahoo's numbers were generally higher than what analysts expected, perhaps earning Carol Bartz a few points in unhappy shareholders' eyes.  A low Q1 forecast threw a long shadow, however.

The fourth quarter of 2010 - which of course coincided with the all-important holiday shopping season - was a pretty good period for eBay.  The company reported its financial results this afternoon, and managed to come in above analysts' forecasts.

It's time again for Google's shareholders to toss some confetti and raise glasses of not-particularly-cheap champagne.  The search giant released its third quarter earnings report this afternoon, and it beat analysts' forecasts by an impressive amount.

Google was supposed to report a net revenue figure in the neighborhood of $5.25 billion.  Instead, the company was able to report $5.5 billion.  Then it scored an even bigger victory in terms of earnings per share, managing to generate $7.64 rather than $6.67.

Google neither blew estimates out of the water nor bombed with its second quarter financial report this afternoon.  Shareholders seem to be focusing on the targets the company missed, however, sending the stock down sharply in after-hours trading.

Let's get the bad news out of the way first.  Google reported earnings per share of $6.45, even though analysts had hoped to see $6.52.  Also, paid clicks decreased three percent compared to the first quarter, which isn't exactly a positive development.

When Google distributed its first-quarter earnings report, many people were struck by one particular fact: the search giant had $26.5 billion in "cash, cash equivalents, and short-term marketable securities" as of March 31st.  But Google's going out of its way to make sure that money doesn't just collect dust in a vault.

Google's latest earnings report is out, and the search giant did well during the fourth quarter of 2009, beating analysts' expectations.  The unfortunate thing (at least for shareholders) is that a lot of people must have wanted it to do better still, because the stock has taken a bit of a plunge in after-hours trading.

Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDIX) 20% LOWER; reports a Q3 loss of $0.18, 6 cents better than the analyst estimate of ($0.24).

Revenue for the quarter was $3.1 million, which compares to the estimate of $3.04 million. The company expects that its current cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities can fund operations through at least the next twelve months.

AXT Inc (NASDAQ: AXTI) 19% HIGHER; reports Q3 EPS of $0.07, 9 cents better than the analyst estimate of ($0.02).

Experts had high expectations heading into Google's third quarter earnings report, but that was no problem for the search giant as it beat estimates in almost every way.  Google's stock is now heading up in after-hours trading.