After-Hours Alert: Why Alphabet Stock Is Diving

Alphabet Inc GOOG shares are trading lower in Thursday’s after-hours session after the company reported mixed fourth-quarter financial results.

What Happened: Alphabet said fourth-quarter revenue increased 1% year-over-year to $76.05 billion, which beat average analyst estimates of $75.69 billion, according to Benzinga Pro. The Google parent company reported quarterly earnings of $1.05 per share, which missed average estimates of $1.18 per share. 

Cloud revenue came in at $7.315 billion, up from $5.541 billion year-over-year. Ad revenue totaled $61.239 billion, up from $59.042 billion year-over-year. Google Search and other revenue came in at $42.6 billion, down from $43.3 billion year-over-year.

“Our long-term investments in deep computer science make us extremely well-positioned as AI reaches an inflection point, and I’m excited by the AI-driven leaps we’re about to unveil in Search and beyond. There’s also great momentum in Cloud, YouTube subscriptions, and our Pixel devices,” said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet. 

“We’re on an important journey to re-engineer our cost structure in a durable way and to build financially sustainable, vibrant, growing businesses across Alphabet.”

Alphabet expects to incur $1.9 billion to $2.3 billion in employee severance charges. The company anticipates approximately $500 million in charges related to office space reductions. 

A live audio webcast of the company’s fourth-quarter earnings release call will kick off at 4:30 p.m. ET.

GOOG Price Action: Alphabet has a 52-week high of $152.10 and a 52-week low of $83.45.

The stock was down 4.7% in after-hours at $103.55 at the time of publication, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: Hebi B. from Pixabay.