RBC: Facebook Users Could Eclipse Google in 2011
If social-networking site Facebook ever finds a way to make money–and that’s a big “if,” I’d imagine–it could pose a threat to Google (GOOG), according to a 15-page note out today from RBC Capital Markets analyst Ross Sandler, chockablock with charts and graphs and tables.
Sandler has an “Outperform” rating on Google and a price target of $475, which would be 43 percent above the current price.
Sandler writes that he’s generally felt that Facebook is complementary to Google, but “that could change if Facebook’s rapid growth trajectory continues on its current path.” At the very least, writes Sandler, “we think Facebook as the “starting point” for more and more users on the Internet could create some multiple compression for Google over time, if the momentum continues.”
Currently, the two sites are driving traffic to one another, and here Sandler offers intriguing stats pulled from Comscore (SCOR) Web data.
