Ga-Ga for Google

Below is a post I made in the blog on Thursday...

One of the "story stocks" today is Google (GOOG), for two reasons...

• First, the current golden child on Wall Street has filed to sell as many as 14 million shares or roughly $4 billion worth
• Secondly, the stock is featured in today's Wall Street Journal - "Google as -- Get This -- Value Play!" [subscription required]...

The title of the Wall Street Journal article pretty much sums up the sentiment, as does the first line of the story -

"Since its initial public offering of stock a year ago, Google Inc.'s stock has more than tripled. And while the lofty $285 price may indeed seem dizzying, some investors still see hidden value in the shares."

Analysts quoted in the article still believe the shares are cheap and throw out price targets ranging from $320 to $350, which would be a gain of 12- to 23-percent from Wednesday's close. And while competition appears to be looming larger, analysts feel the company may still have some tricks up its sleeve - "They haven't pulled all of the levers they can."

Based on the pre-market action, it appear the stock is reacting more to the first story, and its potential dilution, than to the second story's call to buy the stock. When I began typing this post the shares were indicated down two percent but now they are indicated down more than four percent (11 points). Clearly this will be a volatile situation so I will keep an eye on it.

I should also point out that as I heard the stock offering discussed this morning, the rumor that the company will be added the SPX was surfacing...again...again...again...which adds another variable to the equation.

As for me, I am still watching the chart we discussed on Monday and keeping in mind that, according to Zacks, 17 of 24 analysts (71 percent) rank the stock with a "buy" rating...