The Web search company, based in Mountain View, Calif., posted net income of $52 million, or 19 cents a share. That compares with net income of $20.4 million, or 8 cents a share, in the comparable period in 2003.
Revenue in the third quarter was $805.9 million, up 105 percent from the $394 million reported for the third quarter of 2003. Revenue was up 15 percent sequentially from the second quarter.
Excluding a one-time charge of $201 million from a patent dispute settlement with rival Yahoo, Google reported net income of $125 million, or 45 cents per share, on a diluted basis. The charge was offset by associated and pre-IPO tax benefits.
"We told investors from the start that Google is an unconventional company," Google CEO Eric Schmidt said on an investor conference call. Schmidt added that Google had said it would build its business based on a long-term vision of financial success. The company, however, is also "very pleased with our revenue on the short run," Schmidt said.
Schmidt added that he would not give future guidance.
Google's shares closed up 6 percent to $149 on the Nasdaq stock exchange. In after-hours trading, shares were trading as high as $161, according to Island ECN.
Google attributed the better-than-expected profit and revenue growth to surging traffic on its Web site and partner sites, more advertisers and more "clicks" on the text ads that accompany search results.
Even a seasonal downturn was muted this year as a result, Google CFO George Reyes said.
"We've seen improvements from advertising--sometimes it's better click-through rates (from targeting), sometimes it's more advertisers, sometimes it's from international growth," Schmidt said.
At the end of the quarter, Google reported that it had $1.86 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. As of Sept. 30, Google employed 2,668 full-time staff globally, up from 2,292 in June.
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