Google's Quarterly Results Beat Wall Street's Estimates

Google on Thursday reported a quarterly profit that jumped 61 percent and announced what CEO Larry Page described as "effectively a two-for-one stock split."

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The "split," though, is actually the creation of non-voting shares that Page said in a letter to shareholders "will be available for corporate uses, like equity-based employee compensation, that might otherwise dilute our governance structure."

The new stock will be distributed to shareholders as a non-cash dividend.

Google said it earned $2.9 billion in the first quarter on revenue that rose 24 percent to $10.7 billion. On a per-share basis, Google's adjusted profit was $10.08 while analysts expected $9.64. In after-hours trading Google was mostly flat after having gained 2 percent to $651.01 during the regular session.

Google said paid clicks rose 39 percent year-over-year but the price Google charges its advertisers for those clicks fell 12 percent.

Among the first to weigh in on the financial report was Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan, who called the results "decent" and maintained his 'hold" rating on the stock.