Google To Hit $500 Next Week?

Tech investors are closely watching the price action in Google. Will shares hit the psychologically important $500 level next week?

Over the past 6 months shares of this Internet darling have climbed more than 50% as investors bet the Search giant will be a winner as the economy starts to improve.

Just this week Collins Stewart reiterated its 'Buy' on Google and lifted its price target to $600 from $500.

But that kind of bullish sentiment isn’t new. Last month the website Seeking Alpha wrote, “On Google's fifth birthday, Goldman Sachs gave them a nice gift by adding them to their conviction buy list. (We) have been bullish on Google for a very long time.”

So is this the week that Google crosses the $500 threshold?

For insights we turned to Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney, the #1 internet analyst as ranked by Institutional Investor.

Maybe not next week but "I'd be very surprised if Google did not hit $500 by the end of the year," Maheny tells us. In fact he thinks it could be much higher as we approach 2010.

That's largely due to his belief that Google should be an early beneficiary as companies such as Toyota and Procter & Gamble make advertising commitments in Q4. "That they're not going to spend a significant amount of that online is hard to believe."

Mahaney rates Google as a 'Buy' with a $580 price target.

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