Posted on 06/08/2005 6:55:00 AM PDT by indcons
Internet search phenomenon Google has overtaken a swathe of venerable rivals to become the world's biggest media company by stock market value.
After its shares hit an all-time high on the New York markets on Tuesday, Google is now worth $80bn (£44bn).
This takes it ahead of media leviathan Time Warner, which is valued at $78bn.
The valuation comes in spite of the fact that Google's annual sales total just $3.2bn, a fraction of Time Warner's $42bn.
Good value?
Some analysts believe Google's shares are now overpriced, a rerun of the heady valuations seen during the internet boom of the late 1990s.
Others maintain that Google's high stock value reflects its future earning potential and that its shares could go as high as $325-350.
Google has become the world's most highly-valued media company after only 10 months of trading as a public company.
It now dwarfs more traditional media companies such as Viacom and Walt Disney, which have stock market capitalisations of between $54bn and $55bn.
When it first floated in August last year, its shares debuted at $85.
Google makes most of its money from the sale of advertising on its main search engine page.
There's a stunning piece of analysis if I ever saw one.
As recently as a month ago, Jim Cramer (Kramer? I listen on radio -- I think Kudlow has a "k" and Cramer a "c", right?) was touting Google when it was about 220-230, saying that it would go to 280-300. It did just that.
His reasoning was that he expects to see $7 per share earnings. Looking at Yahoo and others, he figures that a P/E multiple of 40 is not out of line. $7 times 40 is $280. A price of $350 would mean a P/E of 50. Is that overpriced? Time will tell.
Sorry I missed it. (Also sorry that I haven't had money for investing lately -- I finally decided tthat it was time to go into either Sirius or XM as the next wave. I decided that XM was the way to go. Unfortunately, it's just gone another 4-5 bucks higher in the last couple of weeks. sigh. timing, timing, timing)
TS
Google makes money and it will not go bust. However is sure as hell is not worth a PE ratio of 50. If you made money on this stock, get the hell out. If you do not own it, do not buy it.
Google reminds me a lot of Internet Capital Group. During the heady days of the tech market, ICG and another "incubator" whose name I forget, were heavily touted as the best pure plays on the tech boom, since they owned big positions in lots of small to medium tech companies. I bought ICG at around $40 and watched it march up to something like $300 a share before it came tumbling down. I still have some of it, which I hold onto for old times sake. It now sells for about $6 a share, and that is after a reverse split two years ago. I hold onto my shares for nostalgia's sake.
That was one of the things I liked about Cramer's reasoning: he's not that much into tech stocks. He has a few "Best of Breed" stocks but avoids the rest. As for Google, it's time to ring the register.
You go to Yahoo Finance (or anyplace else where you can get quotes), and type in your initials. Try just first and last initials and try first, middle and last. (Not every combination will give you a quote.) It can be fun.
My actual initials were nothing special, but my neice put me to shame: Her initials are the symbol for Lockheed Martin!
I've never tried using "TS" (my freeper initials) before today, but here are the results:
TS: TENARIS S.A ADS (NYSE:TS)
Last Trade: 71.98
EPS (ttm): 8.48
P/E (ttm): 8.49
Market Cap: 8.50B
Okay, so 8 billion is chump change to Google, but it aint chicken feed.
TS
So did anyone else try it? Post your results.
Doesn't make any sense, will probably crash just like VA-Linux did after making it's strange rise. Yahoo has more to offer visitors, and gets more hits per day.
www.trafficrankings.com
typical. None of my combinations are worth anything. (no symbols at all) Born to be broke I guess. :^(
Cool idea, but no luck here. Born to be a member of the proletariat I guess.
I think I will just steer clear of GOOG entirely. My tolerance for risk and volatility isn't what it used to be, and PEs in the 50s give me gas.
Men's Wearhouse Inc (MW)
Day's Range: 53.92 - 54.99
52wk Range: 24.53 - 55.09
Volume: 820,600
Avg Vol (3m): 548,894
Market Cap: 1.95B
P/E (ttm): 25.31
EPS (ttm): 2.14
Div Yield (ttm): N/A (N/A
that what you mean?
I'm not saying anyone should actually run out and buy a stock because of their initials, but its fun to check out. (Sort of like googling your own name and seeing what you find).
TS
I just don't see why google is worth that much. I can't believe it generates billions in revenue.
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