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Much of the media industry, from Viacom to book publishers, is firing away at Google. They’re angry that the search giant is pushing the boundaries of copyright law—and, worse, that it’s stealing a march on them in online advertising. With $10.6 billion in 2006 revenues, up 67% for the year, Google commands at least 31% of all Web ad revenues. That feat is nearly all thanks to those small text ads that run alongside search results and on partner sites. Now, CEO Eric Schmidt is pushing into print ads through deals with newspapers, and into radio through its 2005 acquisition of dMarc, a company that connects advertisers with radio stations. Those initiatives haven’t yet taken off, but Google’s torrid hiring pace—its staff nearly doubled last year, to 10,000—leaves no doubt about its commitment. This year it’s even taking a shot at Microsoft with online services aimed squarely at the software giant’s stronghold: office software.
| Overall Grade | A |
|
| Market Data | GOOG | |
| Market Value (2/28/2007) |
$136.7 Billion |
|
| Profitability* | 32.8% | A |
| Sales Growth Rate** | 93.3% | A |
| 12-Month Sales | $10.6 Billion |
|
| 12-Month Net Income | $3.1 Billion |
|
| Total Return | Past 12 Months23.9% | Past 36 MonthsNA% |
| Economic Sector | Information Technology | |
| Industry | Internet Software & Services | |
The overall sector letter grade reflects how the weighted average of the return on income, or return on equity, and sales growth grades compare with others in the same sector. For the overall grade as well as the ROE/ROI and sales growth grades, an "A" places a company in the top 7% of its sector and an "A-" in the top 14% of the sector. The actual ranking was done using the underlying numerical measures. Grades are for information only.
* For nonfinancial companies, three-year average pretax operating profit before interest and special items as a percentage of average invested capital. For financial companies, pretax profits as a percentage of average shareholder's equity.
*Three-year average annual sales growth based on the most recently reported 36 months, calculated using the least-squares method.
