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Mountain View, Calif. • Google Inc. reported third-quarter earnings Thursday of $2.81 billion, a per-share profit of $4.09.
Earnings, adjusted for stock option expense and asset impairment costs, came to $6.35 per share. Those results did not meet Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $6.46 per share.
The Internet search leader posted revenue of $13.17 billion in the period, which also did not meet Wall Street forecasts. Analysts expected $13.22 billion, according to Zacks.
Google shares have declined 4 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased roughly 1 percent. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $536.78, an increase of 20 percent in the last 12 months.