The numbers may have fallen short of analysts’ rosy estimates, but ’s quarterly sales increased yet again in the first quarter of 2014. Revenue hit $15.42 billion for the quarter ended h 31, the company announced in a dnesday earnings call, with earnings hitting $6.27 per share.
That’s a 19 percent jump from the $12.95 billion in revenue earned in the first quarter of 2013, but it’s less than the $15.52 billion in revenue $6.42-per-share earnings that analysts had predicted, which was enough to send the stock sliding a few percentage points during after-hours trading.
had a big quarter, selling Motorola to novo as well as paying $3.2 billion to snap up Nest. The company spent about $500 million more in R&D than it did in the same quarter last year, increasing that budget item to about 14 percent of its overall revenue.
Among the bright spots specifically mentioned in the call was strong Chromecast sales. The $35 dongle went on sale in 11 more countries last month, within a few weeks of releasing the SDK, signed up more than 3,000 developers interested in adding support to their apps websites. Another strong performer was the ay store—“’re really delighted by the ay business,” said senior vice president chief financial officer chette. Movie sales rentals exped to 39 new countries, paid out 4 times the cash to app developers in 2013 than it did in 2012.
Still, the company’s bread–butter continues to be advertising, the first quarter saw aggregate paid clicks increase 26 percent over Q1 2013. The cost-per-click (or how much makes from each click) decreased 9 percent in the same period, although it remained relatively flat from last year’s fourth quarter.
Aside from desktop mobile ads, is in a good position to help advertisers build their brs in the digital space. For example, every Super Bowl ad was on YouTube, explained Nikesh Arora, senior vice president chief business officer. Those ads were viewed 300 million times, which is nearly three times as many viewers as watched the Super Bowl on TV— that game (boring as it was) set a record for being the most-watched TV event in U.S. history.
Going forward, is excited about the potential of Android ar, continued growth for Chromecast, as well as Fiber. The company is working with 34 muncipalities that are excited about getting Fiber, to make sure the conditions are right to move on to the build stage. “Everyone in the industry is talking about the gig,” meaning the blazing 1Gbps speeds, said chette. “So we’re really excited to work with these communities.” To improve its ad business, is working on helping advertisers track online-to-offline conversions, as well as improving its Enhanced Campaigns program, which bundles desktop mobile ad campaigns, to bring up the cost-per-click figure.