Google Proves Mortal: Opportunity Knocks?

So, there are a couple of ways to think about Google’s (GOOG) big post-Q2 sell-off this morning. For starters, as I noted last night, there seems to be increasing evidence that online advertising is actually feeling the effects of the slower economy. One quarter earlier, the company had denied that it was feeling the effects of the macro slowdown, but that no longer seems to be the case, and the Street is adjusting its perceptions of the company accordingly. On the other hand, the legion of analysts with Buy ratings on the stock almost universally believe investors are being given an opportunity here to buy the stock on the cheap.

It is also worth noting that the big reason for the EPS miss in the quarter was not the weaker economy, but rather lower interest income, as the company used a substantial chunk of cash to pay for its acquisition of DoubleClick. While tha