Google Gallops Toward $600

Liability or Asset?

Though Google gets plenty of credit for its growing dominance in the lucrative search market, Morrison points to an item usually considered the company's Achilles' heel as a key hidden asset.

Google's massive spending on technology infrastructure, which generally makes investors skittish, actually provides it with a cheaper technology platform than rivals', he argues. Competitors will either fall behind or have to spend massively to follow suit, which could hit their own stock prices.

"Our analysis suggests that Google may have a 50% to 100% cost advantage over competitors, mainly Yahoo! and Microsoft," and "Google is posed to accelerate its lead in computational ROI over its competitors in the near term if others do not significantly step up their infrastructure investments," Morrison writes.

"This means that competitors are faced with the difficult decision of either falling further behind in the ability to compete with Google or investing aggressively, which could depress near-term margins and stock performance," he writes.

Not that Google's competitors, if recent events are any sign, aren't already facing a very tough road -- another plus for the search giant.

Take Yahoo!, for starters. The company recently saw the ousting of its CEO, Terry Semel, after its tumultuous annual shareholder meeting. And though the appointment of co-founder Jerry Yang to the top spot was to mark the turning of a new leaf, things seem to have turned even more bitter among the company's top ranks.