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Analysts Ignore Google Miss, Maintain `Buy' Ratings (Update1)

By Jeff Kearns

July 20 (Bloomberg) -- None of the 34 Wall Street analysts who have ``buy'' ratings on Google Inc. downgraded the world's most-popular Internet-search engine after it reported profit that missed their estimates.

Bear Stearns & Co.'s Robert Peck was one of two analysts who took any action at all, cutting his price estimate for Google to $550 from $600 and saying the stock may languish through the summer.

``Google's quarterly report was surprising to many investors and ourselves,'' wrote Peck, the third-ranked analyst on Google according to Institutional Investor magazine's 2006 survey. ``The stock will experience summertime blues.''

In contrast, American Technology Research analyst Rob Sanderson increased his share-price forecast by 14 percent to $685. He recommended that investors be ``aggressive buyers of a pull-back'' in the shares.

Google reported profit of $3.56 in the last quarter, excluding stock-based compensation costs. That was one cent below the average estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts and the second time Google missed estimates.

Outlook Unchanged

Piper Jaffray & Co. analyst Gene Munster reflected the view of most analysts, saying that while Google's results were disappointing, the company's outlook hadn't changed. He expects Google to continue to outmaneuver its rivals such as Yahoo Inc.

``Google is still dominating in the search, and will extend its leadership position in contextual ads to display ads in 2008 with the integration of DoubleClick,'' wrote Munster, who rates the stock ``outperform'' and expects the stock to reach $660 by June.

Piper kept the equivalent of a ``buy'' rating on shares of Google, along with analysts from Citi Investment Research, Credit Suisse Group, UBS AG as well as Bear Stearns.

Shares of Mountain View, California-based Google fell $28.47, or 5.2 percent, to $520.12 at 4 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. At yesterday's close, the stock was up 19 percent this year, double the 9.5 percent advance of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff Kearns in New York at jkearns3@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 20, 2007 17:22 EDT