Список проголосовавших за комментарий " Alphabet A Earnings Preview<p>Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) is set to report Q4 results tonight after the close with a conference call to follow at 4:30pm ET. GOOGL (we will use the voting right Class A shares here) usually reports results right after the bell. <strong>Capital IQ consensus stands at EPS of $9.62 on Revenues of $25.14 bln. GOOGL does not guide and releases results on its web site. </strong></p><p>Shares of GOOGL are trading near all time highs as we approach the Q4 results. The stock kicked off the start of the week by breaking above the previous high of $838 which was set two days ahead of its Q3 earnings report. The stock got as high as $861 in early trade before seeing some profit taking ahead of the report. Recall the stock saw a similar reaction ahead of its Q3 news. Shares did see a nice jump in immediate reaction, rallying from $814 to $839. But it would fail to hold gains and would eventually slide to the $743 area in the weeks to follow. But GOOGL held its 200-sma and has ran over 100 points over the past two months.</p><p>GOOGL has been at the forefront of the growth in digital advertising (along with FB). With digital advertising expected to supplant TV as the top advertising destination market participants will have high expectations for the company despite a difficult set of comparables for 2017. GOOGL has seen its growth pick up as it is finally benefiting from its YouTube acquisition. It still benefits from its Android-driven ad business in mobile which is flourishing. Investors would like to see Alphabet continue to dominate in these areas. But a stream of revenue from other areas, particularly cloud, could help bolster expectations of growth continuing.</p><p><strong>Key Metrics/Topics</strong></p><ul><li><strong>Revenue Growth-</strong> The $25 bln reflects revenue growth of 17%. Impressive for a company the size of GOOGL but would be cause for concern given the 20%+witnessed in 2017.</li><li><strong>Aggregate Paid Clicks-</strong> Expected to increase 25% y/y. This metric increased 33% (vs 26% estimate) in Q3.</li><li><strong>Aggregate cost per click-</strong> Expected to decline 10.7% y/y which is one of the small headwinds from the uptick in YouTube monetization and mobile. Q3 saw a decline of 11% compared to expectations of a decline of 5% due to the increased mobile usage.</li><li><strong>Other Bets Revenue-</strong> Best measurement for alternative businesses. Q3 revenue was $197 mln and lost $865 mln compared to revenue of $141 mln and a loss of $980 mln in the prior year.</li><li><strong>Cost of Revenues-</strong> Q3 was 39%. GOOGL said on its call that it expected to see an increase in marketing spend ing Q4 which could threaten the bottom line results. </li><li><strong>Cloud Business-</strong> GOOGL has been trailing AMZN by a mile here and MSFT by a healthy margin but has been pressing further into the area. GOOGL announced it would expand its partnership with INTC during the quarter.</li><li><strong>Fiber Unit, Satellite and Self Driving Business-</strong> There has been talk the co could sell its fiber and satellite business and spin off its self driving car unit. All speculation at this point but wanted to point it out. The co announced a pause to tis fiber business last quarter</li><li><strong>Tax Issues-</strong> A few fronts here but the big one for analysts will be comments around a potential repatriation. GOOGL's effective tax rate in Q3 was 16% so it is not viewed as one that will benefit from a corporate tax cut.</li><li><strong>New Platform-</strong> At the end of the month GOOGL will launch its redesigned paid search text ads. This will not have an impact on today's results but analysts will be looking for color on the implementation and expectations. </li></ul><p><strong>Q3 Recap</strong></p><ul><li>GOOGL reported Q3 (Sep) earnings of $9.06 per share, $0.46 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $8.60. Revenues rose 20.2% year/year to $22.45 bln vs the $22.04 bln Capital IQ Consensus.<ul><li><strong>Non-GAAP Operating Margin</strong> 34% compared to 33% prior year</li><li><strong>Other Bets revenue</strong> $197 mln compared to $141 mln in prior year<ul><li>Other Bets operating loss ($865) mln compared ot ($980)mln in prior year</li></ul></li><li><strong>Cost of revenues as %</strong> — 39% compared to 38% in prior year</li><li>Google Website Revenue Growth 23%</li><li>Google Network Members Websites 1%</li><li>Google Other Revenues 39%</li><li>Google segment Revenues 20%</li><li><strong>TAC as a % of revenue-</strong> 21% compared to 21% in the prior year</li></ul></li><li><strong>Aggregate Paid Clicks-</strong><ul><li>Q3 +33%, expected to increase approx 26% y/y; Q2 +29%;-Q1 +29%;Q4 +31%; Q3 +23%.</li><li>Paid Clicks on Google websites- Q3 +42%; Q2 +37%;Q1 +38%; Q4 +40%; Q3 +35%.</li><li>Paid clicks on member sites- Q3 +1%; Q2 0%; Q1 +2%; Q4 +2%; Q3 -5%.</li></ul></li><li><strong>Aggregate cost per click-</strong><ul><li>Q3 -11%, expected to decline approx 5% y/y; Q2 -7%; Q1 -9%; Q4 -13%; Q3 -11%</li><li>CPC on Google sites- Q3 -13%; Q2 -9%; Q1 -12%; Q4 -16%; Q3 -16%.</li><li>CPC on member sites- Q3 -14%; Q1 -8%; -8%; Q4 -8%; Q3 -4%.</li></ul></li></ul>"