The Internet giant leads results from some of the technology sector's largest corporations on Thursday, including International Business Machines, Microsoft Corp and Intel Corp.

Sector bellwether IBM rode a 3-percent share-gain after its own results beat targets. Intel's first-quarter forecast was in line with expectations, relieving some investors who had feared the chipmaker would pare back its guidance.

And Microsoft offset weakness in its Windows business -- the result of poor PC sales -- with strengthing server and tools.

Commentary:

GOOGLE INC:

KIM FORREST, SENIOR ANALYST, FORT PITT CAPITAL GROUP

"Google got hit with the ugly stick.

"I'm surprised at the level by which they missed both on revenue and earnings. They haven't missed on both before; they've missed on one before, but made it up on the other.

"You've got to ask yourself, 'where is the money going? What are they spending it on?' I have a feeling it is on platforms like Chrome and Android, and things like that."

JORDAN ROHAN, ANALYST, STIFEL NICOLAUS

"Expectations had got ahead of themselves for Google, largely because investors don't have a good feel for what happens outside the U.S. North America has remained strong but there are parts of the world where there's a lot of economic pressure.

"I would have to assume Europe, particularly Germany and some others undergoing austerity measures. The underlying demand in those countries is weak.

"The margins were pretty good, on a percentage basis they show a decent uptick. Google is a company where investors get it wrong every other quarter, because they doesn't provide guidance.

"There are many parts of the Google income statement that are difficult to forecast."

COLIN GILLIS, ANALYST, BGC PARTNERS

"Even though the earnings came in line with expectations the tax rate was higher than expected, while interest and other income was also negative.

"It's not a disastrous report but it shows you expectations were high because it's typically their strongest quarter. Q4 is typically their time to shine.

"Click pricing was down. It declined 8 percent, we were expecting it be up 3 percent, and this is due to the economy. It's not a positive outlook for macro earnings."

MICROSOFT CORP:

SUNIT GOGIA, ANALYST, MORNINGSTAR

"The results are pretty much in line with my expectations. We all expected the PC market to be weak, and the Windows business was down because of that. But the server and tools business is growing well."

INTEL CORP:

DOUG FREEDMAN, ANALYSTM RBC CAPITAL

"Revenue is clearly better than expected. I am surprised they are not guiding to slightly lower revenues. I thought it could be slightly worse than that.

"The full-year forecast is pretty bullish when they talk about gross margin and revenue. They are pretty big numbers, as is the amount of spending and depreciation. So they clearly see a very large opportunity for sales. You have to think that they think unit growth can be high single-digits.

"Last quarter they underestimated the flood impact. I am wondering if they are still underestimating the Thailand flood impact, and the market's ability to ramp back up to get to these

numbers."

IBM:

KIM FORREST, SENIOR ANALYST, FORT PITT CAPITAL GROUP

"They are bullish for the next quarter, so I am pretty happy as a holder of IBM. I'm unbelievably encouraged by their margins."

(Reporting By Alistair Barr and Poornima Gupta in San Francisco, Jim Finkle in Boston, and Yinka Adegoke in New York)

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