New ceiling for Google shares

[Arnie]

Today $451.55

Google Analyst Stahlman Trumps Rivals With $2,000 Bet (Update1)
January 6, 2006 08:41 EST -- Google Inc. analyst Mark Stahlman upped the ante in the Wall Street parlor game of guessing how much the search engine's stock is worth. His bet: $2,000.

What's your bet?

Mine is below the $1,000.00 mark

[bizz]

I'd say:

Long term: $500 tops
new lawsuits, competition, whoknows ...

Short term: could make it $1000 at some point

[digitalpoint]

Stock at $700 by the end of 2006.

[fsmedia]

$650 end of 2006 -- there were predictions for a $600 peak already too.

What do I get if I win????

[i_am_dhaval]

How can Indian people buy Google shares?

is it possible for Indian people ?

[Sharpseo]

Time frame is important. By the end of 2006, I'd say it could hit $600 easy.

Originally Posted by bizz

Long term: $500 tops
new lawsuits, competition, whoknows ...

$500 long term? That's a bit skeptical. If their growth rate continues at anywhere close to what it has in the past few years, it could be $5,000 or more in 10 years (if they don't split the stock).

I don't think people truly understand what Google has done to the marketing world. It's a true revolution - PPC marketing actually produces a good and measurable ROI for most companies.

NO other form of marketing really does that. TV is good for advertising Coca-Cola, but not specialized products. PPC advertising is the future of marketing, and Google has a sizable lead at this time. Prospects for growth, both domestic and international are fantastic.

Sorry for the soap-boxing, but I have a somewhat unique perspective on the financial side of things, being a publisher who uses adsense, and a former stockbroker.

[Alberta]

I just can't see Google stock rising above $1000, even with all the expanding or new services they're opening up. In fact as a shareholder, I'd be concerned that the company is expanding to fast....but then again I'm no analyst.

Take Care.

[Sharpseo]

Originally Posted by Alberta

I just can't see Google stock rising above $1000, even with all the expanding or new services they're opening up. In fact as a shareholder, I'd be concerned that the company is expanding to fast....but then again I'm no analyst.

Take Care.

Don't think in terms of the "price" of the stock, it's completely irrelevant. A price like $1,000 being too "high" doesn't mean much, other than the fact that it's a psychological barrier

Look at the market capitalization - Google as a company is valued at around $137 billion dollars. Microsoft is valued at about $287 billion dollars. Yet Google stock is worth $465 per share today, where Microsoft is $27 per share. The difference is that Microsoft has sold MANY more shares than Google. So even though it appears that Microsoft is worth less according to the stock price, it's worth more than twice what Google is (for now .

[digitalpoint]

Speaking of which, I'm down for a 20:1 split.

[tesla]

I predict they'll go past a grand. I just hope I'm able to get a few shares before then.

[Arnie]

$ 470.50 as of today and perhaps due to the announcements of Larry at the consumer electronics fair in L.A.

Google Will Offer TV Shows, Distribute PC Software (Update1)
January 6, 2006 22:57 EST -- Google Inc. will offer television shows such as ``Survivor'' and 12 free software programs, opening direct competition with Microsoft Corp. and Apple Computer Inc

[Michael]

Here is a story for ya!

My father who has no knowledge of the stock market had a spare $2,000 to put away for his pension in 1986. He read about Microsoft's IPO and bought their stock at the IPO.

18 years later he retired and sold them for over $700,000 !!! He didn't know what he was doing and was lucky.

Once in a generation these opportunities are available and in my opinion Google is ours. I bought Google shares in the week following the IPO and I fully expect them to provide the same sort of return as Microsoft did for my father. Maybe better

- Michael

[Nitin M]

$800 by year end. $2500 by 2010.

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20060105.html

The beginning is a little boring, but by the middle it is really eye-opening into the potential for targeted marketing for tv and radio. I bet the technologoes will barely begin to be visible in 2006 but within a couple of years the pieces are going to come together.

And, if Google is able to give consumers a light-weight, cheap, and easy to use alternative to windows ... well look out!

I agree that Google is the kind of opportunity that comes along maybe once every ten years... their stock still has a long way to go up IMO.

Google is an advertising company. Their edge is granularity. No one uses Google AdWords to push toilet paper because everybody uses TP. But if you want to sell custom Warlock capes or hand-machined shifters for discontinued Studebakers, Google can charge advertisers a huge premium (per prospect) because these customers are too expensive to find any other way.

So what are the data center trailers for? Well, right now, everyone in the country watching "American Idol" sees the identical commercials at the same time, except for two ads at every half-hour mark, which are inserted by the local station. So the state-of-the-art in TV ad granularity is buying only a million people, instead of a hundred million. This is how it's been done since David Sarnoff cobbled together the first radio network. It's very primitive, but no one's really noticed since TV advertising is still incredibly profitable. And it's profitable despite the fact that VIRTUALLY EVERY TV AD IS WASTED ON PEOPLE WHO AREN'T REAL PROSPECTS. The entire programming chain is profitable DESPITE the fact that practically the entire audience is freeloading.

How often do you see an ad on TV for something you're currently in the market for? I'm guessing almost never. But imagine if everyone watching "American Idol" only saw ads for things they might really buy? Or, better yet, only saw ads for things they had already expressed an interest in? The value of those same 30-second commercial slots would increase by orders of magnitude.

Google imagines a world where only single people see match.com ads, and people who can't drive see ads from taxi companies where others see Toyota campaigns. Where fraternities see ads for strip clubs, beer, Cancun weekends and LSAT prep courses, and only seniors (and their adult children) see ads for Alzheimer's drugs. What would be the value of that increased efficiency, capitalized into present dollars? Ten billion? Fifty billion? I say the value is $100 billion -- 25 percent of the total U.S. advertising market and 15 times Google's current size.

Google is going to let the telco and cable companies burn their capital building out IP-TV, knowing that Google will still be the only game in town for the crux of the whole thing: the ability to show every viewer the specific ads that companies will pay the most to show him at that specific moment. What Google wants to do with these trailers is SERVE EVERY TV COMMERCIAL ON THE PLANET because only they will be able to do it efficiently. Only they will have the database that converts those IP addresses into sales leads, only they will have the servers and disk space close enough to the viewers to feed the ads. Only Google will have the chops to run a constant, real-time auction for the next ad every consumer is about to see, and then serve that ad at the moment the program goes to commercial.

Suddenly, everybody can (and, really, must) advertise on TV, because it'll be so specific...and so dynamic. If you start shopping for a new WiFi access point in the morning, Google will know, and that night when you watch Two and a Half Men, your ads will be from D-Link, Linksys and Belkin. And, further, they'll know that an intelligent buyer lives at your IP, so your ads won't show you a hot model demonstrating how they're plug-and-play, but will instead feature a quick recommendation from the SveaSoft guy about which AP's the best one for hotrodding.

awww yeeeaaahh... now we're talking!

[tesla]

Once in a generation these opportunities are available and in my opinion Google is ours. I bought Google shares in the week following the IPO and I fully expect them to provide the same sort of return as Microsoft did for my father. Maybe better

I couldn't have said it better myself. Google is the next Microsoft, and there is an opportunity for everyone here at DP to become millionaire's in the next five years if they buy and hold some Google stock.

I just wish I was making more money so I could by some shares. I'm going to try to get some by the end of the year.

[Johnburk]

I belive that Google will go all the way to 530 USD, but once it hits that, it will go down back to around 450 USD and then slowly go up again to around 500 USD!

[bpearson]

$800 by year end and a split next year

[Arnie]

Crazy or Brave? Skeptic Remek Says Sell Google: Mark Gilbert
January 11, 2006 19:02 EST -- Philip Remek is either the bravest equity analyst on the planet, or the craziest.

Not all are convinced about Google's success

[justinwp]

Even if only one or two of the rumors regarding Google come true, their earnings will continue to grow at amazing rates. Just look at worldwide internet usage data, changing media consumption patterns, and the total amount of advertising online compared to traditional means. It's truely amazing what Google can do and I wish I had the money to invest.

[toppspinn]

so how many shares does everyone own? i bought a whopping ten shares a week or two ago. whoohoo!

[redundanthost]

I bought about 8k worth on launch day.