Way to go out on a limb there UBS

UBS analyst Benjamin Schachter lowered his price target on Google today to $525/share.   He lowered his targets on Yahoo from $28 to $20/share and eBay from $28 to $18/share.

Sounds like a strong indictment on tech stocks right?  Schachter is putting himself on the line, making a bold prediction that the prices on these stocks will drop right?  Wrong.

Ebay, his closest target is already 8% below his target.

Yahoo, is already down to $13.

Google is at $330/share.

What is the point of these targets, shouldn’t targets be an attempt at a ‘future’ price point and not purely a representation of a midpoint between where they were and where they actually are now?  If Schachter really believes the Yahoo target is $20/share, he should be buying by the truckload, thats a %50 premium over where the stock is trading today.  Same with Google, over a 50% run up would be required to get to Schachter’s new target. 

Seems like rubbish to me.  If you’re going to publish a target, publish a target that makes sense.  If you’re down on Google/Yahoo/Ebay, it doesn’t make sense to target a price above where they are trading today.  Wall Street is bizarre.