Alphabet Drops as Advertisers Pay Less, Microsoft Soars on Cloud

Mukesh Buch
27 Jan, 2017
New York City

Alphabet said net income and revenues declined after cost-per-click dropped 15%. Colgate net swung to profit but global unit volume fell 6%. Chevron net swung to profit after revenues soared 8%. General Dynamics net jumped 4%. Honeywell profit plummeted 13% on flat revenues. Microsoft net rose.

[R]11:05 AM New York – Alphabet said net income and revenues declined after cost-per-click dropped 15%. Colgate net swung to profit but global unit volume fell 6%. Chevron net swung to profit after revenues soared 8%. General Dynamics net jumped 4%. Honeywell profit plummeted 13% on flat revenues. Microsoft net rose.[/R]

Tollbooth Index dropped 70.96 or 0.6% to 11,405.38.

Earnings Review

Alphabet Inc ((GOOGL)) fell $6.88 to $849.89 after the search engine services provider reported total revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in December plunged 18.4% from a year ago to $21.3 billion.

Net income in the quarter declined 7.5% to $4.9 billion or $7.06 per diluted share compared to the $5.3 billion or $7.56 per share in the same quarter last year.

Alphabet said revenues and profit dropped mainly due to aggregate cost-per-click decline of 15% from a year ago and 9% from the previous quarter.

However, aggregate paid clicks jumped 36% from a year ago and 20% from last quarter and paid clicks on Google websites soared 43% from last year and 23% from the previous quarter.

Colgate-Palmolive Company ((CL)) plunged 6.4% or $4.41 to $63.80 after the consumer products maker said net sales in the fourth-quarter ending in December declined 4.5% from a year ago to $3.7 billion.

Net in the quarter swung to profit $606 million or 68 cents per diluted share compared to the loss of $421 billion or 37 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

Colgate said global unit volume dropped 5.5%, pricing increased 2.5% but foreign exchange impact was negative 1.5% and gross profit margin rose 60.4% from 58.8% in the same period a year ago.

Colgate forecasted earnings per share on a dollar basis may be flat for the full-year and low-single-digit in adjusted EPS.

Chevron Corporation ((CVX)) dropped 1.9% or $2.21 to $114.31 after the oil and gas refiner reported revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in December soared 7.9% from a year ago to $31.5 billion.

Net in the quarter swung to profit $415 million or 22 cents per diluted share compared to the loss of $588 million or 31 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

General Dynamics Corporation ((GD)) advanced 2.4% or $4.05 to $181.35 after the aerospace and defense products maker stated revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in December soared 5.4% from a year ago to $8.2 billion.

Net income in the quarter jumped 4.3% to $797 million or $2.58 per diluted share compared to the $764 million or $2.40 per share in the same quarter last year.

Honeywell International Inc ((HON)) increased 78 cents to $118.75 after the industrial conglomerates reported revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in December were flat from a year ago to $9.98 billion.

Net income in the quarter plummeted 13.4% to $1.03 billion or $1.34 per diluted share compared to the $1.19 billion or $1.53 per share in the same quarter last year.

The aircraft engines maker reaffirmed earnings per share forecast in the first-quarter of $1.60 to $1.64 and sales to decline in the range of 2% to 4%.

Microsoft Corporation ((MSFT)) gained 1.7% or $1.12 to $65.39 after the revenues in the second-quarter ending in December rose 1.3% from a year ago to $24.1 billion.

Net income in the quarter jumped 4% to $5.2 billion or 66 cents per diluted share compared to the $5 billion or 62 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

Intelligent Cloud segment including Azure, revenues soared 8% to $6.86 billion as Azure revenues surged 93%.

""Our customers seeing greater value and opportunity as we partner with them through their digital transformation,"" said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer said.