Google shares plunge as much as 11 per cent
Posted October 18, 2012 3:45 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Shares of Google have fallen as much as 11 per cent after its third-quarter earnings were released too early and missed Wall Street estimates, Thursday.
The stock is now trading below $700 (U.S.) a share, with the company missing on both profit and revenue.
“It clearly came out prematurely, it was clearly not supposed to be out yet,” Bloomberg contributing editor Paul Kedrosky said, labelling it a ‘fat finger error.’
“That’s a big mistake from Google and arguably the biggest mistake it’s made as a public company, and one of the biggest I can remember in some time.”
Google’s CEO Larry Page was supposed to approve the numbers before they were released.
In a regulatory filing, Google Inc. says it earned $2.18-billion, or $6.53 per share, during the three months ending in September. That compared with net income of $2.73-billion, or $8.33 per share, last year.
The earnings would have been $9.03 per share, if not for Google’s accounting costs for employee stock compensation and restructuring charges related to the acquisition of Motorola. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting $10.63 per share.
Revenue climbed 45 per cent from last year to $14.1-billion.
