What's the single biggest misconception about Google (Nasdaq: GOOG)? Does it need to diversify its business? Will Google continue to be a market-beater? I ask Motley Fool analyst Tim Beyers:
Mac Greer: What's the single biggest misconception about Google?
Tim Beyers: That it's just a search business, and that search is just what you see on the main Google screen. If you go into Google Apps, you'll see how Google organizes data. For example, you can put an email in a folder in Gmail, but you know what that folder is -- it's a custom search string. We just don't think of search nearly as pervasively as Google does. And because of the way they think about it, they can turn a search algorithm into apps, and run some advertisements, and a very relevant ad, and it makes for great big business.
Mac Greer: Tim, to what extent do you think Google needs to find sources of non-advertising based revenue, and to what extent do you think Google just needs to find more platforms for its advertising revenue?
Tim Beyers: I think it needs to have products that are relevant and that advertisers will really appreciate. But you know, in order to have products that advertisers appreciate, they have to be appreciated by users first. So there's no doubt that Google has to build something that consumers really want. Android has to be better than it is today. My colleague, Andrew Revkin, thinks that it's not much of an issue that there are multiple Android versions. I think that is an issue, because the more versions there are, the more likely it is that consumers are going to be dissatisfied. So yes, Google does have to make products that consumers are really going to like. And they have to focus on that.
Mac Greer: Does Google beat the market over the next five years?
Tim Beyers: No question in my mind. If Google weren't already so big, I'd make it my No. 1 buy. In terms of total market opportunity, in terms of a stock to buy that's stable and a market beater over the next five years, I don't think you beat Google.
