Google ended 2014 with a whimper, at least in Wall Street's eyes.
The search giant missed analysts' estimates for its fourth quarter, prompting a 4% drop in the stock in after-hours trading at one point, though it later leveled off and was essentially flat.
The company reported earnings per share of $6.91 versus the $7.08 that analysts had expected. Revenues came in at $18.1 billion, which was short of the expected $18.46 billion. Paid clicks -- clicks on ads on Google's and its partners' sites -- jumped 11% over the third quarter.
Cost-per-click also fell 3% over the third quarter for ads served on Google sites and those of its members. Among Google sites only, cost-per-click dropped 8% compared to the same period.
For the full year, Google reported revenues of $66 billion, up 19% over last year.
Even the wording in the earnings release suggested that this was a nothing special quarter for Google, as pointed out by one reporter on Twitter:
To understand how @Google views its Q4 performance, see press releases for prior Qs. Note the differences. $GOOG pic.twitter.com/xBdM4J63eF— Amir Efrati (@amir) January 29, 2015
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