NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Google are climbing, slightly up 0.1% to $581.99 in pre-market trading Friday, after the global technology had its price target raised to $682 from $629 by analysts at Citigroup this morning. Citigroup upped its price target while maintaining a "buy" rating on shares, saying valuation is attractive at current levels. The firm also says concerns over the search giant's competitive position are likely overblown, and believes the company's search business is "far from dead." Citi added that Facebook's people-based approach does pose a "real threat, but thinks Google can close the data The Mountain View, CA-based search engine focuses its business around search, advertising, operating systems and platforms, enterprise, and hardware products. Insight from TheStreet's Research Team: Google is a core holding of Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. During the most recent weekly roundup, this is what Jim Cramer, Portfolio Manager & Jack Mohr, Director of Research - Action Alerts PLUS had to say about the stock: The stock gained ground this week on little to no news. Two weeks ago it announced a new product, and rumors emerged that it was testing a product designed to compete with Apple Pay. The new product is for medical search, which will produce streamlined responses to medical-related Google searches (which currently make up 5% of total queries). The relevant medical facts that will be returned include typical symptoms and treatments, the commonality and/or urgency of the condition, how contagious it is, and more. The other report that emerged was that Google was testing a new service dubbed "Plaso" that allows Android phone users to make a touch-free payment at various retailers. The move is clearly an attempt to keep pace with the fast-moving Apple Pay system, and we will likely receive more information on it in coming weeks and months. We also look to this year's Mobile World Congress in early March can be a potential catalyst; we will look for the company to elaborate on creating its own wireless network and advances it has made with host-card emulation (HCE) in partnership with Visa (V). We continue to see great value in Google shares at 18.5x forward estimates (slightly below the historical number) with it double- digit earnings, revenue growth and industry dominance. We now look for any news about the cash hoard and whether it will announces a distribution of some sort -- something hinted at in the recent conference call. Our target is $600. - Jim Cramer and Jack Mohr, 'Weekly Roundup' originally published 2/27/2015 on ActionAlertsPLUS.com. Want more information like this from Jim Cramer and Jack Mohr BEFORE your stock moves? Learn more about ActionAlertsPLUS.com now. Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates GOOGLE INC as a Buy with a ratings score of B+. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate GOOGLE INC (GOOGL) a BUY. This is driven by a few notable strengths, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its increase in net income, robust revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, reasonable valuation levels and expanding profit margins. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had lackluster performance in the stock itself." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has greatly exceeded that of the S&P 500, but is less than that of the Internet Software & Services industry average. The net income increased by 40.9% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from $3,376.00 million to $4,757.00 million. Despite its growing revenue, the company underperformed as compared with the industry average of 18.6%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues rose by 15.3%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displayed by a decline in earnings per share. GOOGL's debt-to-equity ratio is very low at 0.05 and is currently below that of the industry average, implying that there has been very successful management of debt levels. Along with this, the company maintains a quick ratio of 4.52, which clearly demonstrates the ability to cover short-term cash needs. The gross profit margin for GOOGLE INC is rather high; currently it is at 63.86%. It has increased from the same quarter the previous year. Along with this, the net profit margin of 26.27% is above that of the industry average. You can view the full analysis from the report here: GOOGL Ratings Report
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