Google Price Targets Cut After Q1 Earnings Report

After the markets closed yesterday afternoon, Google delivered its first quarter earnings report, and investors reacted with dismay.  Unfortunately for the company, that wasn’t close to the end of things, as Google’s stock continues to dive this morning and a number of financial institutions have lowered their price targets.

To first address what’s going on right now: Google’s stock is down 7.01 percent (to $537.97) as this article goes live.  Meanwhile, the Dow is up 0.33 percent, and the Nasdaq is down just 0.18 percent.

As for what different firms have predicted, Credit Suisse has reduced its price target from $750 to $700, Goldman Sachs has trimmed its price target from $720 to $690, and Morgan Stanley’s cut its price target from $750 to $645.

Then Oppenheimer’s lowered its price target from $715 to $650, Stifel Nicolaus has changed its price target from $775 to $750, UBS has reduced its price target from $780 to $765, and Wedbush has trimmed its price target from $750 to $700.

Such a widespread loss of confidence is obviously bad news.  The upside is that those targets still give Google a lot of room to grow, but few investors seem to be accepting that as the takeaway point.

Google may want to watch its spending in response.  Shareholders who didn’t complain much about dessert statues, autonomous cars, and other strange things when making money hand over fist are more likely to holler now.

It’s no secret that new CEO Larry Page would like to enact some dramatic changes, though, so it’ll be interesting to see how the company balances those demands.