Yesterday Topeka hosted a conference call with search engine guru Danny Sullivan that reinforced the analysts’ view that Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is one of the best longer-term investments in the TMT space. With an unyielding and dominant market share in online search, an innovative platform in technology, coupled with low competitive risks and diminishing regulatory concerns, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), in Topeka’s view, is a must own stock for 2014. The research firm is increasing its price target for Google to $1,313 for year-end 2014, from $1,100 for year-end 2013.
Baird report on Google:
Keyword Searches + Location a strong combination for advertisers. Google believes the combination of keyword searches and location data provide unrivaled value and better ad performance, for example by adjusting keyword bids based on a user’s location, proximity to retail stores or other points of interest. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) noted that consumers are spending double the amount of time online since the introduction of smart devices. While there are still some lingering investor concerns over Google’s competitive position on the Mobile web, Baird continue to view the company in a positive light given strong mobile search share, control over the Android operating system, and a number of key mobile applications, such as Maps, Gmail and YouTube.
Google’s investment in Asia:
The search engine giant has poured in more than $120 million into its Singapore facility and $300 million into the Taiwan data center. Its Taiwanese unit in Changhua county is larger of the two, spread over 37 acres of land. The Mountain View-based company said that it will increase its investment in the Taiwan facility to $600 million over the long-term. Experts say that Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) might have scrapped its Hong Kong plan because of its proximity to China. But Taj Meadows, Asia-Pacific policy communications manager at Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), denied those speculations. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has had an adversarial relationship with China since the Communist Party blocked Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s website and other services in the country.
Google top holding at mutual funds:
This is the 4th consecutive quarter in which Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has retained its position as the top holding at mutual funds. The search giant did see a “subtle decline” in the number of mutual funds which hold shares. During the third quarter of this year, 18 funds held Google shares. In the previous quarter, 20 of them held Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares.
