Google Sinks Facebook and the Tech Market

In the video above, senior technology analyst Eric Bleeker describes how Google's poor earnings brought down the tech sector today. Shortly after noon, the Nasdaq was just slightly negative on the day. Then, Google earnings prematurely leaked and sent the Nasdaq plunging.

Eric notes that the ensuing Google sell-off spilled over into companies like Apple and Facebook. That's common; a big earnings miss from a company often leads to losses among peers in its sector.

However, Eric notes that a key reason for Google's poor earnings was weak results out of Motorola. As Motorola is an Apple competitor, that's actually a slight positive for the company. Likewise, weaker-than-expected search revenue could be attributed to a higher mix of mobile searches. Again, implied growth in mobile search is a positive for Apple.

Moving onto Facebook: a fair share of articles have fretted Google's earnings are an ominous sign that advertising is "soft." The core concern was the cost-per-click Google receives on paid searches, which was down 15% from last year and 3% from last quarter. However, as Eric notes, there are a lot of nuances to this figure.

Google often adjusts its mix between the number of search clicks it gets and the cost-per-click. As an example, the number of paid clicks was up 33% from last year and 6% from last quarter. And while cost-per-click might have been slightly weaker than some analysts had expected, its also a very noisy metric. In the end, while Google's earnings weren't a positive for Facebook, fears about how they'll affect the company seem overblown.

To see Eric's full thoughts, watch the video above.

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The article Google Sinks Facebook and the Tech Market originally appeared on Fool.com.

Eric Bleeker has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple, Facebook, and Google and has the following options: long JAN 2014 $20.00 calls on Facebook. Motley Fool newsletter services recommend Apple, Facebook, and Google. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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