Citigroup Cuts Google (GOOG) to Hold on Questions Following Q1 EPS Miss

Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney cut shares of Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) from Buy to Hold on Friday following the company's slight first-quarter earnings miss.

Mahaney also cut his price target on Google from $750 to $650, saying that
"with limited management disclosure suggests lack of discipline in a growth/competitive environment that simply isn’t as open-ended as it was for GOOG prior to the Recession."

The analyst added that the loss of high level executives, unproven initiatives and increasing regulatory concerns raise to many questions about the world's largest search company.

Google saw its first quarter operating expense growth surge 45 percent, which more than outpaced the 29 percent rise in revenue for the period.

Shares of Google are down 5.64 percent to $545.86 in premarket trade on Friday.

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