Compared to most of the past month, today was a pretty uneventful day for Google’s stock (it gained $7.57). As such, now seems as good a time as any to take a deep breath, sit back, and consider where it might go in the future.
Many people aren’t willing to bet against the search giant; its $90 dive earlier this month was scary, but $625, which is where it bottomed out, isn’t exactly an embarrassing value. Google’s ability to find its way back to $673.57 was also impressive.
So about those predictions . . . Henry Blodget gathered several together – “Heath Terry at CSFB says GOOG will trade at $900 in a year,” “Mark Mahaney at Citi says $775,” and “Mark May at Needham says $690” – and they all looked at least mildly optimistic. Then Blodget added his own analysis.
In one scenario, he foresaw a possible price of around $275. Needless to say, this would be disastrous for many investors, and might even affect the company’s employees (in terms of stock options and their desire to get another job). Yet if things took a different turn, Blodget felt Google could go well over $1,000 per share.
He pointed out, “No one has any idea what Google is worth, not even Wall Street’s top professionals. They’re just gazing into the same hazy future as you are (and, for compliance and other reasons, trying to add precision where there is none).” It’s a refreshing bit of honesty, but, of course, brings no closure to the issue.
