SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Larry Page’s five-year tenure as CEO of Google – and now its new corporate parent Alphabet – is reminding investors that patience pays off, despite a letdown in the first quarter.
After lagging its peers in the early stages of Page’s reign, the Internet’s most powerful company has since delivered returns that trounced both the Standard & Poor’s 500 and Apple shares.
Since Page took the helm in 2011, Alphabet’s stock has soared 163 percent, creating an additional $300 billion in shareholder wealth. The S&P 500 rose 58 percent during the same period; Apple’s stock is up 115 percent.
Some of Alphabet’s gains evaporated late Thursday after the company announced first-quarter earnings and revenue that fell below analyst projections. Both earnings and revenue fell below the analyst projections that steer investor reactions, causing Alphabet Inc. shares to backtrack by $39.89, or 5 percent, to $740.11 in extended trading.
The first-quarter performance will once again test Page’s long-held belief that investors should be looking at the big picture instead of fixating on much a company’s earnings rise and fall from one quarter to the next.