Google Safer To Buy after Sell-Off

Fourth-quarter results of Google, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) missed revenue and earnings expectations as the search-engine giant experienced a drop in search advertising rates.

Google's net income for the fourth quarter rose to $2.71 billion or $8.22 per share from $2.54 billion or $7.81 per share in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted earnings for the quarter rose to $3.13 billion or $9.50 per share from $2.85 billion or $8.75 per share last year. Analysts expected earnings of $10.49 per share for the quarter.

Quarterly revenues rose 25 percent to $10.58 billion and excluding traffic acquisition costs, it rose to $8.13 billion from $6.37 billion last year. Wall Street expected revenues of $8.41 billion, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Following the results, Google shares fell sharply and closed closed Friday's trade down by 53.58 at $585.99, with volume at a 6-month high. Google dropped to a low not seen in over a month-and-a-half, below its 50-day moving average.

However, RBC Capital Markets says there is nothing to worry and investors should add positions to Google stock considering strong long-term fundamentals.

We see nothing in these results that change our longer-term bullish view, and we believe the 10% sell-off is somewhat overblown, RBC Capital Markets analyst Ross Sandler wrote in a note to clients.

Sandler, who has an outperform rating and $800 price target on Google stock, said he continued to view Google as a must-own name in the Internet space and at 10.6x EPS ex-cash, would add to positions on the pullback.