Did Google beat expectations or not?

We don’t need to go too far past the cheerleading headline on this one. From the Puget Sound Business Journal, Google: profit up 27%, ‘recession behind us’:

Internet and search engine giant Google Inc. beat third quarter expectations with a 27 percent increase in net income to $1.64 billion, or $5.13 cents a share.

So let’s look at a post earlier today from Zero Hedge, Ahead Of Google Earnings, A Look At Options And Expectations:

Keep in mind, in terms of a successful report, investors will be looking for (mean consensus estimate) revenue of $4,248 million and EPS of $5.431 for Q3, a 33.77% increase over Q3 2008. However, what is notable is that over the past 10 quarters, Google has never surprised to the upside based on consensus EPS.

In case you are wondering where Tyler Durden got his estimate from, he provides his Bloomberg Terminal screenshot. Yahoo Finance put the average estimate at 5.42. No citation for the analyst expectations from PSBJ. Not that it particularly matters. Google is up after hours.

FYI: Nobody considers “One time charges” to be one-time. Think Google isn’t going to award employee stock options next quarter? Willing to bet on it?