Net Hopes Hang on Google

Citing data from research firm qSearch, Bear Stearns analyst Bob Peck says, "Google posted one full percentage point market-share gain [in September] to reach 45.1% market share in the domestic search market, up from 44.1% in August 2006."

Peck, whose firm has no current investment banking relationship with Google, adds, "Aside from the impressive market-share gain, Google is also the fastest-growing site, with year-on-year growth of 56.9%, almost doubling that of the industry at 30.7% and well ahead of all major search sites."

If those forecasts are right, not only is Google's ad revenue 1 1/3 times larger than Yahoo!'s, it's also growing nearly four times as fast.

Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel explained Tuesday how his company is striving to catch up with Google.

But for investors concerned with the near term -- that is the next two or three quarters -- the Google story is the only one they will probably want to listen to this week.