Benchmark Releases Online Advertising Report, Rates Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) As Buy

Benchmark released a 1Q10 online advertising update and summarized their findings as follows, “Internet advertising is rebounding from the recession and should grow 10% or more this year in the US. Search, led by Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), is recovering well while display has firmed but is more mixed. Overall advertising budget visibility and spending patterns have improved. However, we believe smaller public companies will struggle to gain market share as Google expands. We rate Google Buy and keep most other Internet advertising stocks at Hold.”

There were some estimates concerning other companies as well. Analysts at Benchmark stated, “We estimate Yahoo’s (NADSAQ: YHOO) owned and operated display revenue will increase 25% in 1Q10 while YouTube pricing has increased materially. Video seems particularly strong.”

Commenting on market share, analysts noted that “February domestic market share figures reflect Google at 65.5%, Yahoo! at 16.8%, and (Microsoft’s) Bing (NASDAQ: MSFT) with 11.5%. This compares with 63.3%, 20.6% and 8.2% a year ago.”

Other than Google, the only online advertising stock that Benchmark rates as a Buy is Infospace (NASDAQ: INSP).