Google: Whoops! Econalypse
by John Paczkowski
Posted on November 10, 2008 at 1:02 PM PT
The econalypse is finally catching up with Google–according to the company’s recently released 10-Q and Barclays Capital analyst Douglas Anmuth, who apparently just read it. Noting that advertising spending generally declines in ugly economic conditions, Anmuth lowered his share price forecast for Google (GOOG) to $490 from $542. “The search environment has deteriorated,” the analyst wrote. “We think deceleration in search spending is driven more by soft consumer demand than by marketers cutting budgets.”
Those remarks promptly shaved 5.46 percent off of Google’s stock, sending its share price down to $311.75, a three-year low.
Of course, Google’s 10-Q, which was filed on Nov. 7, said pretty much the same thing, though it didn’t have quite the same effect on the company’s share price.
As result of the continued disruptions in the global financial markets, worldwide economic conditions and their impact on levels of consumer spending have recently deteriorated in many countries and regions. Any decreases in or delays in advertising spending due to general economic conditions could reduce our revenues or negatively impact our ability to grow our revenues.”
Comments
google is over-valued by at least 25%.
it will have problems showing strong growth now that it’s a grownup company
Posted by Sam Harrison at November 10th, 2008 at 3:35 pm