Tepid third-quarter results from Google (GOOG), together with claims of tax avoidance and power abuse, have sent shares in the search and advertising giant down 10 per cent this month. That looks undeserved as Google's sales surged a fifth to $16.5bn (£10.2bn) last quarter, reflecting strong advertising demand and soaring media downloads from its Play Store.
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Google has been "investing with enthusiasm" in cloud, enterprise and hardware. It grew its headcount by 6 per cent to 55,000 employees and ramped up research and development spending by 46 per cent, resulting in a 5 per cent slump in net income to $2.8bn. Analysts at Pivotal Research expect full-year cash profit of $26.3bn, giving EPS of $26.2.
