Google Inc.’s share price up, posts weaker-than-expected profits due to rising costs

Google Inc. made a statement today, revealing lower-than-expected net profit results for the first quarter of the current financial year due to rising costs. According to the companys statement, the quarterly revenue increased by 19% and reached 15.4 billion, less than the 15.5 billion median analyst forecast and compared to the 13-billion-dollar revenue posted for the same period in 2013.

One of the analysts, who work for Piper Jaffray Cos. – Gene Munster – commented on the companys announcement for Bloomberg: “Obviously mobile’s growing faster than desktop. The core questions that investors are dying to answer is just how that gap closes. They’re not showing it in the results yet.”

Google Inc. revealed that its net income rose by mere 3% and reached 3.65 billion dollars, as the 23% increase in expenses eroded it. The earnings of the company reached 6.27 dollars per share, which is a bit lower than the analysts expectations of 6.41 dollars per share. The results do not include the companys Motorola Mobility unit, which Google intends to sell to Lenovo Group Ltd.

The Chief Financial Officer of Google Inc. – Patrick Pichette also commented on the companys first-quarter results, saying that the surge in Googles costs was not a trend. Mr. Pichette explained that the results are mostly due to the 3.2-billion-dollar deal over the acquisition of Nest Labs, and also to some legal expenses.

He said on a telephone call, which was cited by Bloomberg: “There you have it: strong results – and the optimism that provides us the confidence to fund strategic growth opportunities.”

Google Inc. is not the only tech giant that is facing difficulties at the moment. Other companies, such as Microsoft Corp., Facebook Inc. and Intel Corp. are also going through hard times, as they are trying to make their businesses more attractive to customers. Taking into account that mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are becoming more popular among consumers, Google Inc. is also shifting its focus in this direction, especially considering the fact that it has been recently getting less advertising money for marketing spots on smartphones.

As reported by Bloomberg, Mr. Scott Kessler, who is one of the analysts working for S&P Capital IQ Inc., commented on this tendency: “Mobile is perceived as the single biggest risk over the near-term. Mobile is definitely helping Google and many others in the number of volume-related metrics, but mobile has also had a notable negative impact on pricing.”

Google Inc. was 2.77% up to settle at $563.90 per share yesterday, marking a one-year change of +42.02%. According to the information published on CNN Money, the 41 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Google Inc. have a median target of 675.65, with a high estimate of 750.00 and a low estimate of 525.51. The median estimate represents a +19.82% increase from the last price of 563.90.