Alphabet Stock Falls After Quarterly Earnings Miss

Shares of Alphabet Inc. fell 3% in extended trading Thursday after the company reported weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings. The Google and YouTube parent reported net income of $5.3 billion, or $7.56 a share, compared with $6 billion, or $7.06 a share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding one-time items, Alphabet reported earnings of $9.36 a share, narrowly below the FactSet consensus estimate of $9.64. Revenue for the period rose to $26.06 billion, or roughly $21.2 billion when removing traffic acquisition costs. Revenue topped analyst expectations of $20.6 billion. Both cost of revenues and operating expenses were higher during the quarter. As of Thursday's close, shares of Alphabet had been up 4.2% in the past three months, compared with a 7.3% increase for the S&P 500 .