Alphabet reports Q4 2017 revenue of $32.3 billion, but missing expectations due to U.S. tax bill

Closing out last year, Alphabet has just reported its Q4 2017 results, with earnings of $32.3 billion — up 24% from the same quarter last year. These numbers cover October to December and do not fully meet analyst expectations, with the stock down nearly 4% in after-hour trading.

Revenue is up 24% from $26 billion in Q4 2016, but net income is down $3 billion for this quarter. As a result of the U.S. Tax Act, Alphabet encountered a tax expense of $9.9 billion “due to the one-time transition tax on accumulated foreign subsidiary earnings and deferred tax impacts.”

The stock is down 4% in after-hour trading due to earnings per share of $9.70 versus an estimated $9.98. For comparison, Alphabet reported $27.72 billion in revenue and $6.73 billion in net income last quarter.

In a statement, Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat notes that “full year operating income growth continues to underscore our core strength, and on top of this, we continue to make substantial investments for the long-term in exciting new businesses.”

Meanwhile, given Eric Schmidt’s resignation as executive chairman last month, Alphabet has named John Hennessy as the new chairman. A former president of Standford, Hennessy has been on Google’s board since 2004.

Hardware sales of the Google Pixel and Home are grouped together with the Play Store and Google Cloud efforts in “Other Revenues.” This quarter it is at $4.6 billion, compared to $3.4 billion the same quarter last year.

Sales this quarter include products announced at the October 4th event, including the Pixel 2, Google Home Mini, and the Pixelbook. Compared to a year ago, fourth quarter device shipments doubled.

Meanwhile, Sundar Pichai revealed that Cloud, which includes G Suite and the Google Cloud Platform for developers, is now a “billion dollar per quarter business.” The Google CEO also noted 4 million paying customers on G Suite.

The much-analyzed “Other Bets” continues to lose money, but is slowly increasing revenue. It reported $409 million revenue primarily generated by Nest, Verily, and Fiber, with operating loss up to $916 million from $812 million in the previous quarter.

As usual, Alphabet will hold an earnings call with investors and members of the press to further break down numbers from its Q4 2017 earnings release. You can follow along via the livestream below and we’ll have coverage of any notable tidbits the company reveals.