I have to confess I was among the skeptics who thought Google might be ready for a stumble. I couldn't have been more wrong as it posted fourth-quarter earnings per share of 92 cents, compared with analysts' expectations of 77 cents. I guess the advertising/AdSense market is more robust and Google is more of a dominant player than I thought.
To be honest, I was of the opinion Google needed a new growth engine but perhaps the advertising market has a long way to go and Google is going to mine it in a big, lucrative way. Google shares jjumped $17 in after-hours trading, and who knows where it will stop. This is a dot-com boom but in a very, very isolated way.