Google profits up 60%

Google Inc.’s first-quarter profit rose 60 percent, soaring past analyst estimates as the company’s Internet-leading search engine solidified its position as the Web’s most popular advertising vehicle.

The report sent Google shares rising more than 7 percent in late trading.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company said Thursday that it earned $592.3 million, or $1.95 per share, during the first three months of the year. That compared with net income of $369.2 million, or $1.29 per share, at the same time last year.

Quarterly revenue surpassed $2 billion for the first time in Google’s 7 1/2 year history, reaching $2.25 billion — a 79 percent increase from $1.26 billion last year.

After subtracting the commissions that company pays to thousands of advertising partners, Google’s revenue totaled $1.53 billion.

Google’s profit increase would have been even larger if not for new accounting rules that require companies to deduct the costs of their employee stock options. That requirement, imposed over the high-tech industry’s loud objections, wasn’t in effect last year.

If not for the stock option expenses and a charge for a recently announced legal settlement, Google would have earned $2.29 per share. That blew past the average estimate of $1.97 per share among analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

•Bankcda reported first-quarter earnings of about $106,000, a 97 percent increase over the first quarter of 2005, according to company officials. The state-chartered bank is headquartered in Coeur d’Alene.

It was founded in 2001 and has assets of $63 million.

•Nokia Corp. shares rose Thursday, after better-than-expected first-quarter earnings showed it continues to dominate the world mobile-phone market.

The Finnish company said net income grew 21 percent to 1.05 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in the three months ended March 31 from the year-earlier period, on sales that surged almost 30 percent to 9.5 billion euros ($11.73 billion).

Nokia said its global market share grew to 35 percent, a 3 percent increase on the previous quarter and up 1 percent from the same period in 2005.

•Oilfield services conglomerate Halliburton Co. said Thursday that first quarter income rose 33 percent, a boost driven largely by increased sales and robust rig activity in North America.

The Houston-based company reported net income of $488 million, or 91 cents a share, compared to $365 million, or 72 cents a share.

Stripping out 1 cent for discontinued operations, the results were 3 cents a share better than the 87 cent per share profit among analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

The news comes one week after the company announced its initial public offering for KBR, the company’s services group, which saw a 13 percent decrease in business. Halliburton attributed the drop to less military support work in Iraq.

•Drugmakers Merck & Co. and Eli Lilly and Co. on Thursday posted double-digit increases in first-quarter profit, while Schering-Plough Corp. tripled its small profit of a year ago.

All three pharmaceutical companies beat analysts’ expectations on net income, but Merck and Lilly came in slightly below the analysts’ revenue forecasts.

Lilly shares fell on its lower-then-expected forecast for second-quarter earnings per share and eroding market for its biggest profit contributor, antipsychotic drug Zyprexa, which competes with four rivals’ drugs, Shah said.

In trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange, shares of Merck rose 60 cents, or 1.7 percent, to close at $35; shares of Schering-Plough rose 51 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $19.40; and shares of Lilly fell $1.03, or 1.9 percent, to $53.62.

Merck, which has fallen from the world’s No. 3 to No. 7 drugmaker over about a decade, reported an 11 percent jump in first-quarter profit, to $1.52 billion or 69 cents per share, despite sales that were flat at $5.36 billion.

At Schering-Plough Corp., profit more than tripled to $350 million, or 24 cents per share, behind strong sales of Vytorin, Zetia and its top-seller, rheumatoid arthritis drug Remicade.

•Newspaper publishers Lee Enterprises Inc. and Belo Corp. posted lower earnings Thursday as higher expenses weighed down results.

Lee, which is based in Davenport, Iowa, reported at 20 percent drop in earnings for its second fiscal quarter on costs related to its purchase of Pulitzer Inc. last June.

Lee earned $14.4 million, or 32 cents a share, compared $18.1 million, or 40 cents a share a year ago. Earnings excluding one-time expenses were 33 cents, meeting the estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Revenue rose 63.5 percent to $275.8 million from $168.7 million a year ago, as the company incorporated results from Pulitzer.