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GOOGLE (GOOG) POSTS Q4. JP MORGAN CUTS ESTIMATES, TARGET; REITERATES OVERWEIGHTAnalyst Doug Anmuth says Q4 results were disappointing overall as revenue came in at least 3% below expectations and pro forma EPS fell short by ~10%. However, he believes it's hard to argue with 34% paid clicks growth, improvements in search ad quality that should ultimately drive incremental revenue, and a display business that is now on a $5B run-rate and accounts for about 12% of gross revenue. Cuts $44.40 '12 PF EPS estimate to $41.60, $52.22 '13 to $449.13; $730 target to $686. Reiterates overweight and would take advantage of current weakness in shares. B.Brodie

Google Profit Disappoints As Spending Rises

6:53 PM ET 1/19/12 | Dow Jones

By John Letzing, DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones)--Google Inc.'s (GOOG) quarterly profit reported on Thursday disappointed investors, as the Internet giant continues spending heavily to expand beyond its dominant search engine and tackle new markets.

Google said its fourth-quarter earnings rose about 6% compared to the same period a year earlier, though revenue made overseas slowed and the prices paid for clicks on Google's advertising fell sharply.

Overall, earnings for the quarter were $2.71 billion, or $8.22 a share, up from $2.54 billion, or $7.81 a share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, earnings were $9.50 a share, Google said, while net revenue was $8.13 billion.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected adjusted earnings of $10.49 a share, and $8.41 billion in net revenue.

Shares of Google fell nearly 9% in late trading, following the earnings report, to $582.60.

Jordan Rohan, an analyst covering Google for Stifel Nicolaus, noted that international results in particular hurt Google's quarterly performance.

"People were assuming that the strength we were picking up in the U.S. would apply equally around the globe, and it proved not true in international markets outside of the U.K.," Rohan said.

Rohan said the sharp gains enjoyed by Google shares over the past few months set many investors up for disappointment once the company released its results. "They were likely caught leaning the wrong way on this," the analyst said of investors.

During a conference call with analysts, Google Chief Executive Larry Page said he was pleased with the company's performance. "I'm most excited by the fact that we significantly improved our velocity in terms of execution," Page said.

The CEO also pointed to progress made by the Google+ social network, which now has 90 million users compared to 40 million disclosed in October.

But Google has invested heavily in new forays such as Google+, adding significantly to its headcount and increasing spending on data centers and equipment. The company's operating expenses rose to 32% of revenue in the quarter, from 30% a year ago.

Google Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette said during the call that the company is taking a "disciplined" approach to investing.

Over 1,000 new employees were added during the quarter, Google said, bringing its total to nearly 35,000. The company had announced in January of last year that 2011 would mark a record for annual hires, with well over 6,000 expected.

Google ultimately added over 8,000 employees during the year, it said Thursday.

"This is classic Google, they're not going to take their foot off the accelerator in terms of capex," said David Rolfe, chief investment officer at Wedgewood Partners, which is a holder of Google stock, in reference to capital expenditures.

Google said its so-called paid clicks, or the number of times that users click on advertisements and generate revenue for the company, rose 34% in the quarter compared to the same period a year earlier.

But the prices paid for those clicks by advertisers fell 8%, Google said.

That decline in prices seemed to alarm some analysts, though Page said he found it to be "not that surprising." That's because more Google users were clicking on more ads in the quarter including those that demand lower prices, lowering prices overall, the CEO said.

Page touted Google+, which Google recently tied closer to its search engine by presenting search results culled from Google+ users' profiles.

Google unveiled Google+, a potential rival to Facebook Inc., in June. Facebook, founded in 2004, says it now has over 800 million users.

Other relatively recent initiatives at Google include its growing display-advertising business. The company said Thursday that its display-ad business is now generating over $5 billion in revenue annually.

In 2010, Google had disclosed that its display-ad business was generating over $2.5 billion in annual revenue.

-By John Letzing, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-765-8230; john.letzing@dowjones.com
--Joan E. Solsman contributed to this article.

iPhone 4S Could Have Big Impact on Apples Earnings

7:15 AM ET 1/20/12 | TREFIS

If the data around iPhone 4S is to be believed, the indications are that its sales is all set to surprise during the upcoming Apples (NASDAQ:AAPL) earnings release scheduled for next week. According to a recent finding from Nielsen’s December survey of the U.S. mobile phone market,among recent smartphone buyers, 44.5% of those surveyed in December bought aniPhone, up from 25.1% in October. Around 57% of new iPhone buyers said they chose the iPhone 4S over the less expensive iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS.

Due to this trend, the gap between Googles (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android and Apple that was quite large a few months back, has narrowed. About 47% of the people surveyed said they purchased a phone running Android, down from 62% before the iPhone 4S launch. If Apple surprises on iPhone 4S sales during earnings, investors could lap up Apple’s stock as the iPhone is the most valuable business for Apple and accounts for over 50% of our $500 price estimate for Apple stock. Our price estimate for Apple stock is about 20% above market price.

Solid Evidence of Bumper iPhone 4S Sales

Apple investors were naturally disappointed with the company’s September quarter results as Apple lost market share to Samsung in the global smartphone market.However, after releasing iPhone 4S in October, Apples market share recovered quickly underscoring the pent up demand for the iPhone.

According to a report from research firm NPD, Apples iOS market share jumped from 26% in Q3 2011 to 43% by October and November. Meanwhile, Android share dropped from a high of 60% to 47% during the same period.

Finally, according to another survey conducted by ChangeWave Research for the month of December 2011, 54% of buyers planning to purchase a smartphone in the next three months said theyll buy the iPhone. The research firm stated that “Apple has never dominated smart phone planned buying to this extent more than two months after a major new release,” referring to the introduction of iPhone 4S. The report also suggested that Apple leads the smartphone satisfaction rating with 75% of the current iPhone owners saying they are Very Satisfied with their iPhone.

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