Google Inc (GOOG)’s Story Remains Robust

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s technology empire is growing at a healthy clip. The company has a number of secular industry growth trends on its side that will position it very well. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) continues to be the leader in the paid search market, and continues to enjoy strong revenue growth. In addition to the company’s cash cow of Paid Search, the company has a number of other growth drivers that can drive its earnings in the future by providing incremental revenue.

Search is stellar

Google’s search business is still the biggest driver of the company’s revenue, making up more than 60% of Google’s revenue. In 2Q13, Google saw a 19% Y/Y increase in paid-clicks, but the cost per click was down by 6% Y/Y, which is consistent with other leading search engine companies. As more and more users are inclined towards search queries on mobile devices, a lot of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s future is tied to mobile search and monetization.

On Google’s 3Q12 earnings call, management indicated that mobile advertising is contributing $8 billion in annualized revenue run-rate. As global smartphone penetration surges, search queries on mobile are expected to make up a larger portion relative to desktop.

Mobile search revenues will be incremental for Google’s revenues with the aid of its Android OS. Also, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is emphasizing more commerce transactions with Shopping, which has listed more than 1 billion products, and is monetizing this asset by placing product listing ads and competing with e-commerce companies like Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY). Google’s search business is rock solid and is expected to see double-digit growth in paid-clicks.

Android, Play and Hardware

Google disclosed that the company is activating more than 1.5 million Android devices daily. The open source nature of Android tablets has led to solid innovation among many OEMs and developers. Android-based devices, especially Samsung devices, have taken a lot of market share from  Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s devices. And Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) also recently started marketing its Motorola devices more heavily, and is expected to make a stronger push for Motorola.

Google is also making more investments in Play to ramp up the success of the Android ecosystem. Google is adding more content from more studios, music labels and publishers to keep up with the dominance of iTunes. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has built a massive business in services stemming from iTunes and the App store, with an annualized revenue run-rate of more than $16.4 billion, a success that Google is trying to emulate. Google’s Play Store is growing rapidly in terms of app downloads, and is expected to grow faster.

Along with Motorola, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has a number of hardware devices in the market, including the Nexus line, which is priced at the low end of the device spectrum. Google has seen solid growth in its Nexus line, but it still represents a small portion of Google’s total revenues.