Mountain View,CA-Based Technology Co Alphabet Showed Mostly Really Fine 4Q 2017 Operating Numbers ................................................................................... 4Q 2017 Revenues Increased By 24.0% Above 4Q 2016 Revenues, a Higher % Increase Than Any of the Other 2017 Quarters ................................................................................... 4Q 2017 Net Income, Excluding the Trump Tax Bill Income Tax Expense Impact, Increased By a Very Impressive 28% Above the 4Q 2016, Substantially Higher Than the Comparable Net Income Growth For the Year 2017 of 16% .................................................................................. One 4Q 2017 Soft Spot Was the Higher Cost of Revenues Growth in the 4Q 2017 Over the 4Q 2016 of 34%, Which Was Stable at 28% Growth For Each of the First Three Quarters of 2017 ....................................................................................... A Second 4Q 2017 Seemingly Soft Spot Was the Huge Acceleration of the Growth of Sales and Marketing Expenses in the 4Q 2017 Above the 4Q 2016 of 38%, Double the 3Q 2017 Growth Above the 3Q 2016 of 19%. But On the Other Hand, That Substantial Acceleration in 4Q 2017 Marketing Spend Should Help Alphabet in 2018 and I Loved the Draymond Green Ad on You-Tube .................................................................................. Alphabet More Than Made up For the Two Above Soft Spots By its Very Strong 4Q 2017 24% Revenues Growth, By Keeping 4Q 2017 General Administrative Expenses Under Control and By Creatively Discovering Ways to Reduce Its 4Q 2017 Effective Income Tax Rate Even Further to 14.7%, Excluding the Impact of the Trump Tax Bill ....................................................................................... A Very Significant Financial Accomplishment in the 4Q 2017 Was Alphabet’s Handling of Its Substantial Cumulative Unremitted Foreign Earnings Indefinitely Invested Overseas, Which Were $60.7 Bil at Dec 31, 2016 and Probably About $64 Bil late in Dec 2017. Alphabet Had a Very Small Total Net Deferred Income Tax Assets at Dec 31, 2016, Which Includes a Netted Deferred Income Tax Liability on Foreign Earnings Not Indefinitely Reinvested and Thus My Hunch is That Any Related Income Tax Expense or Income Tax Benefit Related to Deferred Income Tax Assets and Liabilities Wouldn’t Be That Large and Thus Taking the $9.9 Bil Tax Cost of Mandatory Foreign Earnings Repatriation of Cumulative Unremitted Foreign Earnings Previously Indefinitely Invested Overseas of $64 Bil Yields an Income Tax Rate of 15.5%, a Very Favorable Income Tax Rate Indeed.