Google parent company Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) reported its Q4 2020 earnings after the closing bell on Tuesday, beating analysts’ expectations thanks to improved spending by advertisers and continued growth in its cloud business.

These are the most important numbers from the report compared to what analysts were predicting, as compiled by Bloomberg.

• Revenue: $46.43 billion ex-TAC versus $44.55 billion ex-TAC expected

• Earnings per share: $22.30 versus $15.57 expected

The company’s stock was up 5% after the report.

“Our strong fourth quarter performance, with revenues of $56.9 billion, was driven by Search and YouTube, as consumer and business activity recovered from earlier in the year,” Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat said in a statement.

Overall, the company’s revenue in the quarter was up 23% year-over-year, with advertising revenue up 21.8%.

While advertiser spending was certainly important for Alphabet in the quarter, the main attraction for many analysts was the performance of its cloud business.

The cloud segment is made up of two distinct parts: Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is made up of Google’s actual cloud computing services, while Google Workspace, which was formerly known as G Suite, includes the company’s productivity and collaboration tools.

In the quarter, the segment pulled in $3.81 billion, hitting analysts’ expectations. For the year, the segment saw revenue of $13.05 billion. Alphabet is fighting to build out its cloud operations to better compete for market share with the likes of Amazon’s (AMZN) AWS, the market leader, and Microsoft’s (MSFT) Azure, which falls just behind AWS. Those services have proven incredibly important to both companies’ stock gains, helping to push their respective market caps to nearly $2 trillion.

The earnings report follows key initiative changes in recent weeks at Alphabet, including the cancellation of its Loon balloon-based internet service, which was designed to beam internet to traditionally hard-to-access regions of the world via balloons.

On Monday, Alphabet revealed a new strategic partnership with Ford (F) revealing that its Google Cloud Platform would serve as Ford’s preferred cloud services provider. The tie-up includes plans for Google’s Android operating system to power all of Ford and Lincoln’s in-car infotainment systems by 2023.

Alphabet, however, is also in the midst of contending with an antitrust suit filed by the Justice Department in October that contends the company operates as an illegal monopoly. It’s not just the DOJ that is hitting Alphabet, a group of state attorneys general led by Texas AG Ken Paxton filed suit against Alphabet in December. A second group of state attorneys general, led by Colorado AG Phil Weiser and Nebraska AG Doug Peterson, also filed suit against the company in the same month.

Sign up for Yahoo Finance Tech newsletter

Got a tip? Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com over via encrypted mail at danielphowley@protonmail.com, and follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.

More from Dan:

• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella: There is ‘a big crisis right now’ for cybersecurity

• Why GameStop is destined to become another Blockbuster Video

• Trump is out of office and off Twitter, but that won’t stop disinformation from spreading online

• How Netflix’s overseas expansion fueled its explosive growth in subscribers

Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, SmartNews, LinkedIn, YouTube, and reddit.

Find live stock market quotes and the latest business and finance news

For tutorials and information on investing and trading stocks, check out Cashay