Google's new CFO lays out 5 points of focus - and it's just what investors wanted to hear

Google just reported stellar Q2 earnings, sending the stock leaping more than 11% after hours.

The beat and corresponding surge looks particularly good for Google's new CFO, Ruth Porat.

Wall Street had been worried about a need more disciplined spending and Google's numbers - operating expenses were down 2.9% from last quarter - coupled with Porat's comments on the earnings call seemed to soothe investors fears.

At the end of her pre-written remarks on the earnings call, Porat highlighted five key topics that she and Google were focusing on moving forward.

She basically told investors that Google is committed to its core revenue growth and plans to be very disciplined in its spending, but that it is also in a great position to keep taking advantage of other exciting opportunities.

Here are her five topics, summarized and in full:

1. Google will focus on its revenue core growth - while maintaining a "tight governance" on its investment in its other projects

"Our strong revenue growth in the second quarter, notwithstanding the adverse effects of the strong US Dollar, evidences the health of our core search business, most notably mobile, complemented by growth in YouTube and Programmatic advertising," she said.

"Our earlier stage products, such as Fiber, Google Life Sciences, and Nest, serve as longer term sources of revenue. Regarding these areas, we are focused on tight governance to ensure that the resourcing for them is appropriate. We will talk more about these products in greater detail as I get settled in."

2. It will continue the discipline that shrunk its operating expenses this quarter, while still investing in amazing talent.

"The sequential deceleration in expense growth achieved in the second quarter reflects in part the benefit of expense discipline discussed in prior calls," she said.

"A key focus is on the levers within our control to manage the pace of expenses while still ensuring and supporting our growth. We will do this while we continue to invest in engineering talent to keep us preeminent in innovation globally."

3. While Google said its capital expenditures this quarter were primarily related to production equipment and data centers, it recognizes that it needs to continue to optimize where it spends its money moving forward.

"Third, the pace of growth in capital expenditures over the last several years has been significant," Porat said. "Although the vast majority of capex to date has been to support our core business, growing requirements for newer products underscore the increasing importance of optimization across the many opportunities ahead of us."

4. Google has more cash on hand this quarter (up to $4.47 billion, up from $2.98 billion at this time last year), which gives it flexibility to "judiciously capitalize" on its many opportunities

"Fourth, our cash balance grew again this quarter, which of course gives us more strategic flexibility," she said.

"We remain focused on judiciously capitalizing on the strategic opportunities that we have, which are many, and a key issue is how we prioritize our capital allocation given the breadth of opportunities."

5. Google will never stop believing in the need to chase moonshots. Focusing on solving big problems is important for users, employees, and shareholders alike.

"Finally, as Larry has frequently noted, Google's goal is to develop great new services that significantly improve the lives of as many people as possible," she said.

"Solving problems for users at scale ultimately results in monetization opportunities. How we prioritize and focus on these opportunities remains paramount, both for our employees who remain inspired by the opportunity to work on the most cutting edge developments with maximum global impact
and, for our shareholders."