Google's Gotta Hustle to Meet Growth Targets

Continuing spectacular growth at Google(GOOG) will be tougher than Wall Street thinks.

The consensus among sell-side analysts has the company growing earnings by 34% a year
-- for the next five years. That puts Google's price-to-earnings-to-growth ratio -- a measure of its valuation compared to expected growth -- at 1, making it the lowest for large-cap Internet stocks, including companies such as Yahoo!(YHOO) and eBay(EBAY).

But such impressive growth won't be easy. Google is now on track to deliver net income of $4.8 billion this year. Growing such sizable earnings that fast would be a challenge for any company.

At the same time, growth in the search ad market, which has accounted for almost all the company's revenue, is slowing -- particularly in the U.S.

	Can Google repeat its U.S. success in Europe? Answer Here

That means Google will be increasingly dependent on overseas revenue for growth and will also have to push into new forms of advertising such as display, video and mobile. And while analyst earnings projections imply that the company will be able to replicate its domestic search ad success in those mediums, the results thus far are decidedly mixed.

Rather than bank on analyst forecasts and recommendations, then, investors should keep a close eye on Google's progress in these emerging areas before jumping in.

Wall Street analysts seem to be much less skeptical about the company's prospects. Of the 39 analysts that cover the stock, 35 rate it a buy or a strong buy. And even the lowest $540 price target on the stock implies an upside of about 6%.