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I never understood how the stock got so high and their shady public relations is troublesome. I like the company, I use to work right next door to them, but I wonder if they overinflated..
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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Investors are pushing Google Inc. (GOOG) for more information about business trends, as steep share-price declines and stomach-turning volatility recently stretch their tolerance of the company's tight-lipped approach to investor relations.
On Tuesday, modest comments about slowing growth from the company's financial chief unnerved investors already skittish after fourth-quarter results last month that for the first time fell short of Wall Street expectations. Google's stock tumbled 7.1% to $362.62 Tuesday, erasing a tentative two-week rebound from a large post-earnings drop.
Now investors, less forgiving of Google's maverick ways, will be looking for new clarity on Thursday, when executives will spend four hours talking to Wall Street at the company's annual analyst meeting. Investors are holding their breath in the meantime, keeping Google's stock essentially flat Wednesday at $365.43, up only 0.7%.
Analysts don't expect Google to relent on its refusal to provide explicit financial guidance. But amid heightened risk around the shares, analysts are stepping up the pressure for more details about the company's business strategy and progress. Two analysts from top securities firms, for instance, published lengthy lists of questions for management in the last week.
Google, when it filed for its initial public offering in April 2004, said it wouldn't provide financial forecasts. It cited an inability to provide narrow dollar ranges and an unwillingness to distract managers, charged with making the best long-term decisions for the company, with short-term targets. Google has since taken its pledge to what some consider extremes, providing little information to help investors get a handle on its growth trajectory. It won't even provide a schedule of speakers for the analyst meeting.
A Google spokeswoman couldn't be immediately reached for comment.
The company's approach to Wall Street stands in stark contrast to its approach to advertisers, to whom it provides ample information, via a free tool dubbed Google Analytics, to help them make rational decisions about keyword-ad prices - and avoid potential pricing bubbles. It also flies in the face of its pledge to users to make the world's information universally accessible and useful.
On Wednesday, UBS analyst Benjamin A. Schachter published a four-page chart with questions for management on 23 themes covering everything from expenses to product plans to new ad models to click fraud. Question No. 23 asked about the possibilities for change in Google's relationship with Wall Street.
Citing bruised confidence "in our and The Street's collective ability to accurately forecast revenue and operating expenses" following Google's quarterly report, Schachter said "it is difficult to recommend the shares in the near term." He rates the stock neutral. UBS has an investment-banking relationship with Google.
Schachter's manifest followed a nine-item "wish list" published last week by Bear Stearns analyst Robert S. Peck. "In order for the analyst day to be a positive catalyst for the stock, the company will need to provide more clarity on a host of issues that we think the Street would like answered," he said. Bear Stearns has a business relation with Google.
Wish No. 1: Answers to a slew of questions about the health of Google's advertising system and improvements in its ability to wring ad dollars from traffic to its search engine and other products, such as its email and local-search services.
On Tuesday, modest comments about slowing growth from the company's financial chief unnerved investors already skittish after fourth-quarter results last month that for the first time fell short of Wall Street expectations. Google's stock tumbled 7.1% to $362.62 Tuesday, erasing a tentative two-week rebound from a large post-earnings drop.
Now investors, less forgiving of Google's maverick ways, will be looking for new clarity on Thursday, when executives will spend four hours talking to Wall Street at the company's annual analyst meeting. Investors are holding their breath in the meantime, keeping Google's stock essentially flat Wednesday at $365.43, up only 0.7%.
Analysts don't expect Google to relent on its refusal to provide explicit financial guidance. But amid heightened risk around the shares, analysts are stepping up the pressure for more details about the company's business strategy and progress. Two analysts from top securities firms, for instance, published lengthy lists of questions for management in the last week.
Google, when it filed for its initial public offering in April 2004, said it wouldn't provide financial forecasts. It cited an inability to provide narrow dollar ranges and an unwillingness to distract managers, charged with making the best long-term decisions for the company, with short-term targets. Google has since taken its pledge to what some consider extremes, providing little information to help investors get a handle on its growth trajectory. It won't even provide a schedule of speakers for the analyst meeting.
A Google spokeswoman couldn't be immediately reached for comment.
The company's approach to Wall Street stands in stark contrast to its approach to advertisers, to whom it provides ample information, via a free tool dubbed Google Analytics, to help them make rational decisions about keyword-ad prices - and avoid potential pricing bubbles. It also flies in the face of its pledge to users to make the world's information universally accessible and useful.
On Wednesday, UBS analyst Benjamin A. Schachter published a four-page chart with questions for management on 23 themes covering everything from expenses to product plans to new ad models to click fraud. Question No. 23 asked about the possibilities for change in Google's relationship with Wall Street.
Citing bruised confidence "in our and The Street's collective ability to accurately forecast revenue and operating expenses" following Google's quarterly report, Schachter said "it is difficult to recommend the shares in the near term." He rates the stock neutral. UBS has an investment-banking relationship with Google.
Schachter's manifest followed a nine-item "wish list" published last week by Bear Stearns analyst Robert S. Peck. "In order for the analyst day to be a positive catalyst for the stock, the company will need to provide more clarity on a host of issues that we think the Street would like answered," he said. Bear Stearns has a business relation with Google.
Wish No. 1: Answers to a slew of questions about the health of Google's advertising system and improvements in its ability to wring ad dollars from traffic to its search engine and other products, such as its email and local-search services.
Thoughts?
The worst that could happen to you is that you lose your investment.
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