Google should send comScore flowers
Posted
Apr 18 2008, 04:12 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Google shares soared today after its first-quarter earnings report, and the company has comScore to thank for much of its good fortunes. That's because many analysts had lowered their revenue and profit estimates for the quarter after comScore's tracking data suggested paid-click growth was trending flat to down.
The result? Google had the luxury of reporting earnings against diminished expectations. And it blew those expectations away. First quarter profit was $4.84 per share, way ahead of Wall Street's forecast of $4.53. Net revenue was $3.7 billion, ahead of the $3.61 billion analysts had forecast.
How nice to have someone lower the bar so much that Google could just hop right over it and see its shares rise by 20%.
And those analysts? They've raised their estimates today, which only added to the stock price mania.
As my colleague Charley Blaine pointed out, comScore shares took a hit yesterday as investors questioned the company's tracking data.
If comScore had never reported its data in the first place, would Google be doing so well today?