Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have always told Wall Street that positioning the Internet search leader to realize long-term ambitions is more important than hitting the short-term financial targets of investors.

Just in case anyone forgot, the company punctuated the point with its second-quarter results.

Propelled by the online advertising boom, Google Inc. reported late Thursday that revenue surged to $3.87 billion, up 58 percent from the same time last year – slightly above analyst estimates.

But Google’s profit margins narrowed as management ramped up spending to hire employees, develop products, open more data centers and buy more content for its Web sites.