Analyst Goes Goo-Goo for Google

Got that? On the one hand, he painted as dire a picture as possible, so he's covered in case the worst happens. He can point to those comment and say: "I told you so."

Mahaney even lowered his price target on Google. Google is trading at just above $300, so the new $450 target evidently means that the "worst economic terrain" of our time will still offer about a 50% pop. Still, its down 140 points from where it was just five weeks ago, and Mahaney's words could not be more foreboding.

Yet he still rates the stock a buy. This, savvy investors, is a classic example of the Wall Street analysts' do-si-do of covering all their bases in every client note. And the business media, rather than alerting you to the comic, useless nature of this do-si-do, merely play along.

In an article with the breathtaking headline "Google Analyst: 'Worst Economic Environment In Our Collective Lifetimes,'" the blog TechCrunch includes an earnest review of the analysts' process:

"Mahaney, like all analysts, talk to as many direct sources as he can. Every quarter Mahaney checks with search marketing executives to get their outlook for the coming quarter. In October the signs were mixed. Advertising spend in the financial, retail, travel and housing verticals was weak, but pharma, CPG, entertainment and technology was strong."

Nothing about how, as part of the process, the Wall Street analyst tries to say two things at once, giving him a guaranteed "I told you so" regardless of what actually happens.