Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) will
report its second-quarter earnings after market close Thursday afternoon, and whatever the results, the Street will be poring over the numbers -- particularly in ad revenue -- for
hints of an economic rebound.
Analysts on average expect Google to report earnings of $5.08 a share with $5.49 billion in revenue, excluding traffic acquisition costs, according to
Reuters. Those predictions put Google up 2.3% from last year's $5.37 billion second-quarter results. Other
reports, however, place analysts' predictions just above $4 billion in revenue with non-GAAP earnings per share at $5.05.
In the first quarter, the company reported revenues of $5.51 billion, a 6% increase from a year earlier, but a 3% drop from the fourth quarter of 2008.
The more bearish analysts cite an increasingly competitive playing field as reason for their cheerlessness. In a role reversal, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT)
edged in on Google's search engine turf in a major way with the launch of Bing in late May. Then, on the heels of Google's announcement that it would soon make available the new
Chrome OS, Microsoft unveiled a free, online version of its
Office software to compete with Google Apps.
Tune into the earnings Webcast
here. -
Sara Behunek
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