Google Beats, Dell Swaps Chiefs

Investors had a lot to digest late Wednesday on top of an already eventful day: Google reported quarterly results that beat Wall Street estimates, and Dell announced that Michael Dell is returning as CEO.

Google reported earnings of $3.29 a share on a 73% jump in sales after traffic acquisition costs to $2.23 billion. But with some analysts expecting Google to report even higher sales, the stock sold off 2% in late trading.

“Our impressive performance in the fourth quarter demonstrates the continuing strength of our business model across Google properties and those of our partners,” CEO Eric Schmidt said in a statement. “Our growing organization allows us to deliver ever increasing amounts of information and content to our users both through investments in search and ads as well as through strategic partnerships.”

Google CFO George Reyes said on the company’s conference call that Google will continue to spend significantly on technology and other investments to expand its market share.

Also late Wednesday, Dell dismissed CEO Kevin Rollins and warned that its quarterly results will come in below analysts’ estimates, but Dell shares surged 5% in after-hours trading as traders cheered the return of the company’s founder.

Stocks soared Wednesday after traders hit the trifecta of strong growth, tame inflation and a restrained Federal Reserve.

Juniper , SanDisk , Saifun , Celestica , Silicon Labs and Websense fell on their results, while Check Free , Sirf , Red Envelope and Harris gained on their earnings reports.

Comverse , Ulticom and Verint fell after getting delisted from the Nasdaq for delinquent filings.

The Nasdaq gained 15 to 2464, the S&P 500 rose 9 to 1438, and the Dow gained 98 to 12,621. Volume rose to 2.98 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.34 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 22-10 on the NYSE, and 17-13 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 70% on the NYSE, and 65% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 286-18 on the NYSE, and 161-48 on the Nasdaq.