Internet bellwether Google (GOOG) defied concerns about the impact of the economy by posting better-than-expected third-quarter earnings late Thursday, sending the stock up in after-hours action.

For its third quarter ended September 30, Mountain View, Calif.-based Google reported  net income of  $1.35 billion or $4.24 a share compared with net income of $1.25 billion or $3.92 a share in the year ago third quarter. Excluding items Google had earnings of $4.92 a share.

Revenue came in at $4.04 billion, excluding traffic acquisition costs of $1.5 billion, marking a 31% increase from a year-ago. Analysts, according to Thomson Reuters had expected Google to post earnings of $4.76 a share and revenue of $4.06 billion.

While concerns have reverberated through the market that the slowing economy would hurt technology companies, Google’s results seem to defy the concerns.

Recently shares of Google were trading up 4% or $13.85 to $353.02 in after-hours trading action. Heading into Google’s earnings report concerns abounded in part because of the economy and because eBay lowered its outlook for the remainder of the year when it reported quarterly earnings Wednesday.

In a press release Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said the company had strong traffic and revenue growth across all of its geographies.

“While we are realistic about the poor state of the global economy, we will continue to manage Google for the long term,” he said.