The Analysts Who Couldn't Shoot Straight

If Google doesn't make its earnings and revenue numbers, whose fault is that? Google's, for not hitting the analysts' marks, or the analysts', for guessing wrong?

I know what I would say, but that's not the way it works. The way it works, the average of all the analysts' estimates is taken as the magic number that Google is to strive for. Google, however, doesn't strive for magic numbers. And so we long distance runners in GOOG are taken out and shot. Until next Google Eve. It's simple, really.

So what was it this time? It was that Google hired more people during the quarter than the analysts thought they should. But wait a minute, isn't that what companies are supposed to be doing - hiring employees to grow the business and help Obama bring us out of recession?

Sure, margins take a little hit, but that's the way it works - spend money to make money. It's simple, really.