Mark Evans

Google: Up, Up and Away

Is ThinkEquity analyst John Tinker trying to be the next Henry Blodget? Sure looks that way after he put a US$330 price target on Google yesterday. It seems ironic - or funny - to see a growing number of analysts tripping over themselves getting on the Google bandwagon compared with last summer when investors and analysts were reluctant to buy into its US$85-a-share IPO. My, my, it's amazing how a couple quarters of strong financial results can change your mind. Henry Blodget - for those of you have already forgotten the dot-com boom - was a little-known analyst with CIBC Oppenheimer who came out of nowhere in December 1998 when he predicted Amazon.com would hit US$400 within the next 12 months. Amazon was trading at US$243 at the time but it touched Blodget's target in a matter of months. This made Blodget a superstar and got him a sweet job at Merrill Lynch where he went on to make all kinds of dubious moves. Perhaps Tinker's looking for a new gig, and figures Google's his ticket to the big time.