Google's stock plunged suddenly on Thursday afternoon after it released its third-quarter earnings report early, apparently by mistake. The company's stock fell $68.19, or 9 percent, to $687.30 before trading was halted to give investors a chance to digest the news.
Monday morning's news that Google purchased Motorola Mobility has not gone over so well with investors. And while there's no question that Google is one of the best tech stocks around, it's far from the only one. Consider a search site that poised for big growth: China's Baidu.
Wall Street can be fickle, leaving investors scratching their heads in bewilderment. Some of last week's biggest surprises, blunders, and flat-out boneheaded moves included Netflix's misguided pricing hike, ill-timed IPO announcements by Norwegian Cruise Lines and Zillow, and Trex going the way of Lumber Liquidators.
This Aug. 19 is probably something of a bittersweet sixth anniversary for Google as a publicly traded company. Its shares have tumbled 25% year to date, badly underperforming the Nasdaq. But they're up 365% since the IPO.
The conventional wisdom gaining strength these days is that Google is past its hot-growth prime. But unnoticed by many investors are at least three businesses that could give the search giant's stock the kick it's looking for.