Google Q2 results preview

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is set to release its Q2 earnings today at 4:30pm EST, and from all indications, the internet search leader will have another splendid quarter. Indeed, consensus estimates for quarterly earnings are sitting right at $3.10 EPS, a growth figure of over 40% from the year-ago quarter.

Can Google match this expectation? It has not had a problem before, and it seems the company outdoes itself every single quarter, one after the other. What is fueling all this earnings growth? Is it just text-based advertising, Google's great strength? Or is Google making more money with some of its recently acquired properties?

Something I have said for years now is that Google's growth is grand, but can't continue over and over into the stratosphere on the back of one revenue source: text ads. The company's recent rash of high-profile acquisitions has sent a signal that it wants to be the leader in the search business across all platforms, devices and types of content. It needs to monetize all that activity as well, and if it can figure out how, there will be no stopping Google. Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), on the other hand, has still not been able to figure this out, but it has made baby steps in that arena.

Join me here at 4:30pm EST for the Google Q2 liveblog. It should be interesting, to say the least.