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Shares in Googles parent company, Alphabet (Nasdaq: GOOG), are down nearly 7% in premarket trading at the time of this writing. The fall comes a day after Google announced its fourth-quarter 2024 earnings results. Heres what you need to know about those results and the likely reasons why GOOG stock is falling this morning. Google Q4 2024 results were a mixed bag Google saw both its revenue and earnings per share (EPS) increase in Q4 versus the quarter a year earlier. For the Q4 2024 quarter, Google posted nearly $96.5 billion in revenue12% growth from Q4 2023. However, in that previous Q4 2023 quarter, Googles revenue growth had been 13%, suggesting that growth is now slowing at the company, at least when comparing this quarter to the year-earlier quarter. Here are some of the most salient results from Googles Q4: Total revenue: $96.47 billion Diluted earnings per share (EPS): $2.15 Google Cloud revenue: $11.96 billion YouTube ad revenue: $10.47 billion Google Services total revenue: $84.1 billion Despite growing at a slower rate in Q4 2024 than the same quarter a year earlier, Googles revenue is still trending in the right direction. Yet, as CNBC notes, analysts expected Google to bring in $96.56 billion for the quarter. Google also missed analyst expectations regarding its all-important Google Cloud revenue. For the quarter, Google posted cloud revenue of $11.96 billion, while analysts had expected to see around $12.19 billion. While Google Cloud revenue was up 30% year over year, Reuters notes that the sector had grown 35% in Q4 of 2023. This, too, shows that the growth of one of Googles primary revenue sources is slowing. Massive capital expenditure increase rattles investors In addition to missing analyst expectations on many fronts, the main thing that has rattled investors is Google’s announcement that it will significantly expand capital expenditures in an effort to maintain any competitive lead it has in the artificial intelligence sector. Announcing the company’s fourth-quarter 2024 results, Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed that the company expects to invest approximately $75 billion in capital expenditures in 2025. As Reuters pointed out, most analysts had expected Google to grow capital expenditures to $58 billiona modest rise from the $52.5 billion it spent on capital expenditures in fiscal 2024. The $75 billion in expected capital expenditures for fiscal 2025 represents a massive capex growth of 29%. Google said that the majority of the capital expenditure will go into building data centers and servers. These resources are to a large part aimed at helping Google expand its AI capabilities. Yet many investors seem to have balked at this significant capex increase in the wake of DeepSeek. Last month, the Chinese AI startup claimed that it trained superior artificial intelligence models for less than $6 million, stunning both Wall Street investors and American artificial intelligence experts. American tech giants like Google have spent billions developing their artificial intelligence offerings. Many investors now are questioning whether Google’s plans for additional expenditure are prudent considering what DeepSeek has achieved. On the companys financial call, Pichai conceded that the costs for using AI were coming down, but he argued that meant there would be more demand for AI in the future, and Google needs the infrastructure expansion to meet the demand. “The cost of actually using (AI) is going to keep coming down, which will make more use cases feasible,” he said. “The opportunity space is as big as it comes, and that’s why you’re seeing us invest to meet that moment. GOOG is still up for 2025 Despite GOOGs nearly 7% stock price fall in premarket trading this morning, the companys share price is still up slightly year-to-date. As of yesterday’s close Google’s shares were up nearly 7.8% since the beginning of January. The companys stock price has risen more than 44% in the past 12 months.
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Want more housing market stories from Lance Lamberts ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. On a nationally aggregated basis, U.S. single-family home prices, as measured by the Zillow Home Value Index, are up 2.8% year-over-year, while U.S. condo prices have risen 0.4% over the same period. In much of the Midwest, Northeast, and Southern California, regional home prices have seen even stronger gains. However, some areasparticularly around the Gulfare experiencing greater softness, with a few even undergoing home price corrections. Look no further than Florida. Among the 26 major Florida condo markets that ResiClub tracks, condo prices are falling on a year-over-year basis in 24 metro area markets. In other words, condo prices are falling in 92% of Floridas markets. The biggest year-over-year condo price declines are in these Florida markets: Punta Gorda, FL: -11.4% North Port, FL: -8.9% The Villages, FL: -8.4% Panama City, FL: -8.4% Cape Coral, FL: -8.2% Tampa, FL: -7.9% Sebastian, FL: -7.7% Port St. Lucie, FL: -7.3% Naples, FL: -7.2% Deltona, FL: -6.6% Condo prices are also down in Floridas three largest metros: Miami (-3.4%); Tampa (-7.9%), and Orlando (-4.7%). !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r
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E-Commerce
Americans are likely to pay more for products from popular Chinese e-commerce platforms like Shein and Temu as the U.S. Postal Service said it would stop accepting parcels from China and Hong Kong.The move was announced Tuesday, coming after the U.S. imposed an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods and ended a customs exception that allowed small value parcels to enter the U.S. without paying tax. Canada and Mexico managed to negotiate a month-long reprieve from 25% tariffs threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump.It will likely impact online shopping destinations like Shein and Temu, popular with younger shoppers in the U.S. for cheap clothing and other products, usually shipped directly from China.Cheap, direct postal service helps these companies keep costs low, as did the “de minimis” exemption that previously allowed shipments to go tax-free if their value is under $800.The temporary suspension by USPS is likely to delay shipments and could mean higher prices in the long term. What exactly did the USPS announce? The U.S. Postal Service said in a notice that it would temporarily stop accepting inbound parcels from the China and Hong Kong Posts until further notice.Letters and flats mail that measures up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) long or 3/4 inches (1.9 centimeters) thick are not affected. Why did it happen? The USPS did not state a reason in a brief announcement, but the suspension came after Trump closed the “de minimis” customs exemption this week that allowed shoppers and importers to avoid duties on packages worth below $800.The exemption was removed as part of an executive order to levy a 10% tariff on Chinese goods.U.S. Customs and Border Protection previously stated that it processes an average of over four million “de minimis” imports each week. What is the impact and who is most affected? Consumers and companies alike will no longer be able to send parcels to the U.S. from Hong Kong or China.This move is likely to impact Chinese e-commerce firms like Shein and Temu, although Shein is likely to be more affected, according to Jacob Cooke, CEO of e-commerce marketing agency WPIC Marketing + Technologies. Both companies have significant market share in the U.S. “Compared to Temu, Shein relies more heavily on USPS for direct-to-consumer shipping from China, and without this channel, it will have to rely more on private carriers,” said Cooke.“That will increase logistics costs, which along with the recent scrapping of the de minimis exemption for most products from China, could erode its price advantage.”Cooke said Temu operates on a semi-consignment model and often ships bulk orders to the U.S. before fulfilling orders domestically.“Temu’s model of sourcing low-cost goods should also enable the platform to absorb higher logistics costs and remain price competitive,” he said.Shein and Temu did not immediately comment.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said China would take “necessary measures” to protect its companies, and urged the U.S. to “stop politicizing economic and trade issues and using them as a tool, and to stop unreasonably suppressing Chinese companies.” What are possible ways for companies to work around the issue? It is unclear how long the USPS suspension will last, but the effort to crack down on the de minimis excemption seems like a longer-term shift in policy, Cooke said.“Shein and Temu will simply need to rely more on private carriers as a workaround to the USPS suspension,” he said.In the long term, Shein could accelerate its warehouse expansion in the U.S., while Temu can double down on its semi-consignment model. By shipping in bulk to the U.S. and fulfilling orders domestically, logistics cost can be reduced, Cooke said.“Shipping in bulk to the U.S. and fulfilling domestically can reduce logistics costs, but for Shein, this poses a longer-term disruption to their business model which has depended on rapidly developing new SKUs and shipping them directly to consumers,” Cooke said. Zen Soo, AP Business Writer
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