San Francisco: Google Inc., the online search giant that has steered the Internet advertising to yet another tremendous quarter, has become Silicon Valley's most valuable company, when investors brimming confidence jacked its stock price by more than $100 during past month.

On Thursday, Google reported that it gained $1.07 billion, or $3.38 per share, for the three months ended in September, which was a 46 percent improvement from net income of $733.4 million, or $2.36 per share, at the same time last year.

The online search leader said, if not for the cost of awarding stock to its steadily expanding work force, it would have earned $3.91 per share, which is more than the average estimate of $3.78 per share, as anticipated by several financial analysts. The revenue for the period totaled $4.23 billion, a 57 percent increase from $2.69 billion last year.

Google revealed that after deducting commissions paid to its thousands of advertising partners, its revenue stood at $3.01 billion — about $70 million above the average analyst estimate.

Hence, the internet search giant has wonderfully surpassed analyst estimates in all but two of the 13 quarters since its August 2004 initial public offering. The current results indicate the giant’s returning to form, after its second-quarter earnings disappointed Wall Street.

In an interview on Thursday, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said, “We're strong and getting stronger; what I am most pleased about is our model works.”

Wall Street already had been expecting wonderful quarter from Google, especially after its smaller rival, Yahoo Inc., beat analyst expectations with its third-quarter earnings released earlier this week.

The enormous expectations contributed to a 19 percent increase in Google's stock price during the past month, propelling shares through $600 for the first time.

Google shares added $6.14 Thursday to finish the regular session at $639.62, leaving the nine-year-old company with a market value of just below $200 billion. That enabled Google to edge past Cisco Systems Inc. as Silicon Valley's most valuable company.

After the third-quarter results came out, Google shares rose $3.88 in after-hours trading, signaling the stock will likely reach a new peak on Friday.

Fully domineering in internet search arena, Google is now creating new ways to sell ads and opening up potential new revenue channels in the software applications market. In the past few months, Google unveiled a way to show text-based ads across the bottom of videos supplied by its YouTube subsidiary and also began distributing ads within "widgets" — the interactive capsules that are becoming Internet staples.

Schmidt said, "Each of these initiatives give advertisers new and interesting ways to build relationships with customers,"

Google is planning to become even more powerful by buying an online ad placement service, DoubleClick Inc., for $3.1 billion. Facing protests from privacy activists as well as Google's rivals, the deal is under review by antitrust regulators in United States and Europe.

Schmidt said, Google is confident that regulators will approve the acquisition. The company is hoping to take control of DoubleClick before 2008.

Under its ambitious expansion plans, Google has added another 2,130 employees in the third quarter — more than in any three-month period in its history. Management said the summer additions included about 1,000 hires right out of college and 300 employees inherited in its $625 million acquisition of e-mail specialist Postini Inc.

Schmidt assured analysts Google is closely monitoring the size of its work force and indicated the hiring will be more modest in the current quarter. As of Sept. 30, the company's payroll totaled 15,916 people, including hundreds who have become millionaires because Google's stock has increased by more than sevenfold from its IPO price.