Analysts raise Google price targets after strong results - Reuters

Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Google's fourth-quarter results shine after ad rate decline slows Tue, Jan 22 2013 Morgan Stanley upbeat about future profits, performance Fri, Jan 18 2013 Facebook search to generate revenue, no rival to Google: analysts Wed, Jan 16 2013 Analysis & Opinion Counterparties: Like water for profit How does JP Morgan respond to a crisis? Related Topics Tech » Hot Stocks » Asian Markets » The Google signage is seen at the company's headquarters in New York January 8, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Andrew Kelly Wed Jan 23, 2013 7:14am EST (Reuters) - Google Inc's stronger-than-expected results triggered a rush of stock price target upgrades on Wednesday, with several analysts saying the company was well placed to generate higher revenue from mobile advertisements in the longer term. Shares of the world's largest internet search company were set to open 5 percent higher on the Nasdaq. At least seven brokerages raised their price targets on Google Inc's stock, which has risen about 15 percent in the last six months to close at $702.87 on Tuesday when the company reported its fourth-quarter results. "As the business continues to shift toward mobile and advertisers think holistically about clicks rather than about which devices they're coming from ... the Street will as well, and that bodes well for Google," J.P. Morgan Securities analyst Doug Anmuth said in a note to clients. Average cost-per-click, a metric that measures the price advertisers pay Google, declined 6 percent in the quarter from a year earlier, but this was an improvement over the third quarter's 15 percent slide. J.P. Morgan, Raymond James, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, RBC Capital Markets and Piper Jaffray raised their price targets on the stock by an average of about $47. J.P. Morgan was the most bullish, raising its target by $58 to $860. Google shares touched a high of $759.43 in October, but have retreated since on worries about slow advertising growth and losses at its Motorola business. Excluding traffic-acquisition costs, Google's core internet business generated net revenue of $9.83 billion, up from $8.13 billion a year earlier. That surpassed a $9.6 billion average forecast from six analysts polled by Reuters. (Reporting by Neha Alawadhi in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty) Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above. via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHokRVI4TlTZ1Qr9T05kEcYVK4stg&url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/23/us-google-research-idUSBRE90M0LI20130123

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