Google (GOOG): Front and Center!
Google (GOOG) continues to dominate business headlines; the earning call this week will again put the company at center of attention. Google’s earning has become a bored lately. Whatever the estimate is, GOOG will likely beat it by a mile. In that respect, it has become boring. Unlike other company’s earning, there is no need to hold your breath. The question is how much will they surprise. The days leading up to Google’s earning release will be volatile, but we believed the longs will prevail. We also believed this week could be an exciting week for technology, specifically within the internet sector.
Yahoo! is showing some sign of life again by beating their numbers. The company will finally be releasing their new ad platform, Panama. While some investors are excited about Yahoo!, most are waiting for the company to basically prove it can compete with Google. We’ll know the answer to this question by June, 2007 after Panama has been in production for several months.
EBay also reported a great quarter, beating their estimates. This has prompted the company to increase their guidance for the year. The auction business is still strong; the Paypal unit also showed impressive growth. A strong holiday season definitely helped. We would be a buyer of Ebay whenever there’s a weakness. If we can get Ebay at sub 30, we’ll be in a good shape.
Our prediction is Google will report mind blowing number once again. The company has been doing a great job of increasing its search market share, mostly at the expense of MSN and Yahoo! We are going out on a limb and predict GOOG will surge above $500 and likely remain above this level after earning is released. We also hope to hear more about the plans for YouTube. Bottom line is this is one stock you do not want to short.
Interestingly, the company was selected as the best place to work by Fortune magazine. One thing is certain; GOOG takes really good care of their employees. The free food, massages and host of other perks have attached the brightest candidates. We have heard GOOG receives over a billion resumes a year. Yes, that is Billion. Anyway, congratulation to GOOG for being the number one company to work for