Forbes.com - Magazine Article

Forbes.com - Magazine ArticleMarket Scan
Google Still Has Long-Term Potential
03.14.06, 8:51 AM ET

Google shares still have long-term potential despite recent negative news, according to Bear Stearns.

"We continue to believe that the Street’s perception of Google as just a search company is too narrow," wrote analyst Robert Peck in a research note today.

The analyst said page views on Google owned sites in the U.S. increased 56% over the past 15 months but continue to trail far behind the major portals like Yahoo!, Microsoft MSN and AOL, a unit of Time Warner.

"However, Google's page views have increased 45% year-over-year so far this year while its competitors' page views have declined," the analyst said.

Last week, Google settled a click-fraud class action suit that alleged the company had improperly billed advertisers. Google also disclosed it had accidentally published revenue guidance figures for 2006.

Google's stock price declined approximately 11% last week due these announcements.

Bear Stearns lowered the year-end price target on Google to $525 from $550, citing increased capital expenditures and increased stock-based compensation

The research firm slightly lowered the full-year 2006 and 2007 pro-forma earnings-per-share estimates on Google to $8.91 and $13.08, respectively, from $9.00 and $13.10.