Google said its profit soared by 46 percent in the third quarter, serving notice to rivals that its meteoric growth continues even as its market capitalization closes in on $200 billion.

The company said its net income increased to $1.07 billion from $925 million in the second quarter. Not counting stock options grants to employees, Google earned $3.91 per share. That topped analyst estimates of $3.78 per share, which also excluded options-based compensation.

Revenue climbed 57 percent in the quarter, to $4.23 billion, compared with the same period a year earlier, Google said. It was up 9 percent from the second quarter of 2007.

The company said strong growth in paid clicks -- including clicks on ads served on Google sites as well as the sites of the company's AdSense partners -- drove its revenue growth. Paid clicks increased 45 percent over the third quarter of 2006, the company said.

The strong earnings numbers come as Google has powered past the $600 per share mark amid a climate of almost universal bullishness about the Mountain View money machine. The shares were up 1.5 percent in after-hours trading.

"We're very pleased with our strong results, especially during one of our seasonally weaker quarters," Google C.E.O. Eric Schmidt said during a conference call with analysts.

"Looking back at the quarter, it's obvious that our model continues to work very well," Schmidt added.

The company continues to hire at a torrid pace, announcing that its full-time employee base now stands at 15,916 as of September 30, 2007, up from 13,786 as of June 30, 2007. That includes 1,000 new employees hired directly out of college who started work over the summer, Google finance chief George Reyes said.

The company said that as of September 30, 2007, its cash hoard, including cash equivalents and marketable securities, stood at $13.1 billion.

Page played down speculation that the cash pile would compel the company to bid in the Federal Communications Commission's upcoming 700 Mhz auction. Such a step would let Google enter the wireless service business. "The money is not burning a hole in our pocket," he said.

Page said Google has been "quite happy with the openness provisions that have been put into the 700Mhz auction," suggesting the company might not bid at all.

Schmidt suggested that Google is on track to close its $3.1 billion purchase of Web ad company Doubleclick. "We are fulfilling all appropriate steps to get the approval," he said. "We are optimistic."

The Federal Trade Commission is expected to decide whether or not to approve the deal within the next few weeks.

The strong third quarter numbers were greeted somewhat cautiously by Wall Street, which in after hours trading appeared to sustain the 1 percent gain in stock price that had occurred earlier in the day, though after hours trading was heavy and volatile.

In the second quarter of 2007, Google slightly missed Wall Street expectations and saw its stock briefly pummeled, only to quickly resume its seemingly inexorable rise.

Last week, Google rival Yahoo posted an earnings decline that nevertheless beat Street estimates, causing Yahoo shares to jump 9 percent in late trading Tuesday.

Some analysts gave Yahoo C.E.O. Jerry Yang as passing grade as he nears the end of his 100-day reorganization, while others said he is not making the bold moves needed to jump start the company's moribund stock price.

Google's strong third quarter showing puts further pressure on Yang to energize Yahoo's performance.