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The Wall Street Journal is running an article on how many analysts expect (or at least wish) Google to break from its early promises and actually provide investor guidance at its first Analyst Day this Thursday.

Google has always said it wouldn't focus on investors before its core business, explaining that they wanted to be free to concentrate on doing the best with their long-term business. While that makes sense, there's a certain kind of pressure a company can feel after shares fall 27% precisely because Wall Street didn't know what to expect.There's no reason to believe that Google will yield to any such pressures. "There is a cost to not providing guidance and I understand that," Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said in a Jan. 31 interview following the earnings report. "The reason that we don't is our business is so dynamic we'd have to give very broad ranges, and I don't think that would be constructive."

There is one recent sign that the company aims to be more analyst-friendly. Company representatives earlier this month solicited analysts for input on what investors wanted to hear about on Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter. The big question, though, remains whether the company will be more forthcoming with information when it hosts analysts at the Googleplex this week.(via Slashdot)

Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines.

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