Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) crushed Wall Street's estimates with Tuesday's first-quarter earnings report, driving stock prices to fresh all-time highs. First-quarter revenue rose 34% year over year, landing at $55.3 billion. Earnings jumped from $9.87 to $26.29 per diluted share. Your average analyst would have settled for earnings near $15.88 per share on top-line sales of roughly $51.7 billion. The targets themselves have been moving up recently. Consensus earnings estimates for this period sat at $13.84 per share three months ago, before 11 analyst firms boosted their projected earnings. Image source: Getty Images. Behind the headline numbers Some of the bottom-line gains came from an accounting adjustment. Alphabet extended the useful lives of its server hardware from three to four years while stretching the useful life of some networking equipment from three to five years. These adjustments increased diluted earnings by $0.95 per share. The rest of the positive surprises rested on strong business results. First-quarter sales surged at least 33% higher in each of Alphabet's four geographic regions, led by a 44% gain in the Asia-Pacific region. YouTube ad sales rose 49% to $6.0 billion and Google Search revenues increased by 30% to $31.9 billion. But in general, Google search has simply become even more popular during the pandemic. "People have turned to Google Search more than ever since the pandemic began," CEO Sundar Pichai said on the earnings call. "We see hundreds of millions of searches every day for COVID and related health information. People are also searching for jobs. To help them, job seekers can now use search to quickly and easily find roles that do not require a college degree. We are working together with top employment websites to make this service even better." Both Class A and Class C shares of Alphabet traded 4.6% higher at 5 p.m., EDT. At these prices, the pair of FAANG stocks have gained approximately 88% in 52 weeks. 10 stocks we like better than Alphabet (A shares)When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Alphabet (A shares) wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of February 24, 2021 Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Anders Bylund owns shares of Alphabet (A shares) and Alphabet (C shares). The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares) and Alphabet (C shares). The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source