Companies as diverse as Google, SAP, Computer Services Inc. (CSI) and Fairchild Semiconductor turned in positive earnings this week. Computer company stocks on the Nasdaq were up by 1.9 percent in aggregate Friday, as the exchange as a whole rose 47.61 points to close at 266.85. Google rose US$32.69 to close at $591.68, leading the markets up.

Google's results point to its continued dominance in search, while CEO and co-founder Larry Page on a conference call Thursday highlighted the growth of the company's recently launched social networking site, Google+, which he said now has 40 million members.

Google said it ended the quarter with revenue of $9.72 billion, up 33 percent year on year, and net income of $2.73 billion, up from $2.17 billion. Both sales and profit handily exceeded the forecasts of analysts.

While Google took the headlines, other companies confirmed some key trends, including rising sales for enterprise software and services.

ERP (enterprise resource planning) giant SAP, for example, said its year on year, while operating profit more than doubled, helped by a revision of the sum reserved to settle litigation with Oracle over SAP's former TomorrowNow subsidiary. But even excluding the recalculation, third-quarter revenue rose 12 percent to €3.41 billion (US$4.69 billion) and operating profit jumped 23 percent to €1.127 billion. SAP shares on the New York Stock Exchange rose Friday $1.49 to close at $57.66.