Google's second-quarter profit climbed 28%, but it wasn't enough to fulfill Wall Street's high expectations for the Internet's search leader, an Associated Press report said.
The Associated Press report said investors quickly expressed their dismay, causing Google shares to plunge by nearly 8% after the results were released.
The company earned $925.1 million, or $2.93 per share, during the three months ended in June. That compared with net income of $721.1 million, or $2.33 per share, at the same time last year.
The report said if not for costs associated with employee stock compensation, Google said it would have earned $3.56 per share.
That figure missed the average analyst estimate of $3.59 per share among analysts polled by Thomson Financial, the report added.
Revenue for the period totaled $3.87 billion, a 58% increase from $2.46 billion at the same time last year.
After subtracting commissions paid to its advertising partners, Google's revenue was $2.72 billion, about $40 million above analyst projections, the Associated Press report said.
But the quarter's bottom line raised concerns that the rapid growth propelling Google's lofty stock price is slowing more dramatically than analysts thought.
The second quarter represented the first time that Google's year-over-year profit hasn't improved by at least 60 % since the company went public in August 2004. What's more, it's just the second time Google's earnings have fallen below analyst estimates in its 12 quarters as a public company, the report said.