 "Google stock breaks past $1000 mark")
Looks like the massive Q3 ad revenue has worked wonders. Google shares soared before Friday’s opening bell after it reported a big quarterly profit and quashed apprehension about supposedly sliding advertising revenue. Google’s stock opened on a high in the morning and quickly went past the $1,000 mark. As of 10.08 am EST (7:38 pm IST), it had touched $1,005. In premarket trading, Google shares rose $82.01, or 9 percent, to $970.80. At the time of publishing the stock had settled around $1002.
Investors had been worried that a deepening decline in Google’s average ad prices would cut into its bottom line. But while the company’s ad prices are still sagging as marketers pay less for commercial pitches on mobile devices, the number of revenue-generating clicks on those ads is rising at a much faster pace. Google’s profit for the quarter jumped 36 percent and its adjusted results beat Wall Street predictions.
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Analysts are predicting further increase in the price. Jefferies analyst Brian Pitz backed his “Buy” rating for the stock and boosted his price target to $1,150, saying that Google remains a “must-own stock.” He pointed to Google’s YouTube online video website appeals to advertisers and said that Google is the best positioned company in mobile computing.
Citi’s Mark May backed Google to perform even better in the next quarter. “All told, Google’s results continue to impress in the face of a mixed macro environment and competition, and we forecast year-over-year Google segment net revenue growth of 20 percent in the fourth quarter and 16 percent in calendar year 2014,” May wrote in a note to investors.
Google’s consolidated revenue of $14.89 billion was higher than the average analyst estimate of $14.79 billion. Operating loss at Motorola, Google’s mobile phone unit, amounted to $248 million during the third quarter, compared to a loss of $192 million in the third quarter of 2012.
With inputs from Associated Press
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