Figure 1, below, tells the tale. With roughly data from roughly 280 non-financial firms, revenue is up 13.6 percent from the year-ago period, operating income up 33.1 percent, and net income up an eye-popping 85. 1 percent. 

That 85.1 percent growth in net income is deceptive. It includes a single one-time gain of $97.8 billion that tracks back to Google’s ownership stake in the newly launched SpaceX ($SPCX).

That’s right. Google ($GOOG) owned roughly 6 percent of SpaceX stock as of June 30. Because SpaceX soared after its IPO on June 12, that led to a huge increase in the value of Google’s ownership stake — and under U.S. accounting rules, that gain must be reported in the Other Income line, which then falls into the net income line just below it on the income statement.

The $97.8 billion that Google reported from its one-time SpaceX gain is 40.5 percent of all net income reported by the 270 companies in our sample this week. Moreover, investment gains of this sort really just exist on paper; they’re not the same as gains in net income from actual operations.

If we strip out that $97.8 billion from Google’s SpaceX ownership, all other net income growth was only 10.1 percent

Also note the timing here. Google’s Q2 closed on June 30. That very day, SpaceX shares closed at $170, their all-time high. Since then, the stock has tumbled by roughly 33 percent! Shares are currently in a low-earth orbit around $113, well below the IPO price of $135. 

If SpaceX’s decline continues through the rest of the quarter, then Google will need to report a correspondingly large loss in net income next quarter. 

How large? If Q3 ended for Google today, with shares at $113, the loss would be roughly $30 billion. If SpaceX shares continue to fall, the loss will be even larger. Stay tuned. 

For everyone else, Figure 2, below, shows our Earnings Tracker data in table format. 

Calcbench tracks these earnings using our Earnings Tracker template, which pulls in financial disclosures as companies file their latest earnings releases with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Earnings Tracker provides an up-to-the minute snapshot of financial performance compared to the year-earlier period.

If Calcbench subscribers wish to get their hands on the template we use for this analysis, so you can conduct your own experiments at home, use this link to the file. 

Please note that it will only work with an active Calcbench subscription. If you need an active subscription (and who doesn’t, really, when swift access to real-time data is so important?), contact us at us@calcbench.com.

That’s all for this week. Come back next Friday for more!