Here's What Key Metrics Tell Us About Alphabet (GOOGL) Q1 Earnings

Alphabet (GOOGL) reported $76.49 billion in revenue for the quarter ended March 2025, representing a year-over-year increase of 13.2%. EPS of $2.81 for the same period compares to $1.89 a year ago.

The reported revenue represents a surprise of +1.27% over the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $75.53 billion. With the consensus EPS estimate being $2.02, the EPS surprise was +39.11%.

While investors closely watch year-over-year changes in headline numbers -- revenue and earnings -- and how they compare to Wall Street expectations to determine their next course of action, some key metrics always provide a better insight into a company's underlying performance.

As these metrics influence top- and bottom-line performance, comparing them to the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated helps investors project a stock's price performance more accurately.

Here is how Alphabet performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts:

• Total TAC (traffic acquisition costs): $13.75 billion compared to the $13.59 billion average estimate based on 13 analysts.
• Headcount (Number of employees): 185,719 versus the four-analyst average estimate of 183,390.
• Revenues- EMEA: $25.92 billion versus $25.85 billion estimated by three analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +9% change.
• Revenues- United States: $43.96 billion versus the three-analyst average estimate of $43.27 billion. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +13.5%.
• Revenues- Other Americas (Canada and Latin America): $5.23 billion compared to the $5.01 billion average estimate based on three analysts. The reported number represents a change of +12.5% year over year.
• Revenues- APAC: $14.85 billion versus the three-analyst average estimate of $14.33 billion. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +11.8%.
• Revenues- Google properties: $59.63 billion versus $59.34 billion estimated by 12 analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +9.9% change.
• Revenues- Google Cloud: $12.26 billion versus the 11-analyst average estimate of $12.16 billion. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +28.1%.
• Revenues- YouTube ads: $8.93 billion versus the 11-analyst average estimate of $8.90 billion. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +10.4%.
• Revenues- Google advertising: $66.89 billion compared to the $66.29 billion average estimate based on 11 analysts. The reported number represents a change of +8.5% year over year.
• Revenues- Google Search & other: $50.70 billion versus $50.29 billion estimated by 11 analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +9.9% change.
• Revenues- Google Network: $7.26 billion compared to the $7.07 billion average estimate based on 11 analysts. The reported number represents a change of -2.1% year over year.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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