Alphabet Inc (GOOG)

[SeriousMoney]

Google's biggest bull sets $630 share price target
Wed Jan 3, 2007 1:58 PM ET

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Wall Street's most bullish analyst on Google Inc., Safa Rashtchy of Piper Jaffray, on Wednesday said he had raised his stock price target on the Internet media leader to $630 from $600.

In a research note to clients, Rashtchy reaffirmed that Google remains his top large-capitalization stock pick for 2007 based on a belief that it will continue to gain market share from rivals in the Internet, software and media industries.

Other catalysts for the stock are likely to be earnings results and the contribution from new services such as the Google Checkout payment system and radio advertising, he said.

The $630 target represents a price-to-earnings multiple of 35 times the Piper analyst's 2008 earning estimate on Google.

A year ago, in early 2006, Rashtchy went out on a limb on Google by raising his price target to $600, far above other analysts.

The move initially sent the stock higher, but within weeks, concerns about mounting Internet industry competition led the stock to fall back dramatically from a high of $475 to $330.

Only in recent months have other analysts begun to set price targets in the high $500 range. In recent months, the stock has recovered, trading as high as $513 in late November.

The stock, which opened around $465 following the holidays was up $10 at $475 in mid-session on Nasadaq in 2007's first trading session.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=hotStocksNews&storyID=2007-01-03T185616...