Gene Munster: We Still Believe In Google Long-Term On Mobile, Connected Home, Cars & Robots

In a report published Wednesday, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster maintained an Overweight on Google Inc GOOGL GOOG, with a price target of $631.

Google is scheduled to report earnings on July 16. While there is “potential for positive expense commentary,” the company’s shares were already up 2.5 percent when the WSJ's story said that Google was “focusing on more careful expense management, particularly around justifying new hires,” analyst Gene Munster said.

Google's new CFO, Ruth Porat, began on May 26, and Q2 “will be perceived as the first quarter on her watch,” Munster wrote, while adding, “As a result, we believe she has incentive to make sure that she meets or exceeds Street expectations in her first quarter out to start off on the right foot with investors.”

In the report Piper Jaffray noted two reasons for believing in Google longer term:

• “First, we continue to believe that mobile CPCs will ultimately be higher than desktop (in next 2+ years) and could be driven by offline conversion data.
• Second, we don't believe that Google is getting much credit for long-term opportunities in connected home, autonomous vehicles, and robotics, although we do note competition growing in each of those segments.”