UPDATE: Maxim Group Reiterates Buy Rating, Raises PT on Qihoo 360 Technology Co.

In a report published Monday, Maxim Group reiterated its Buy rating on Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. QIHU, and raised its price target from $28.00 to $37.00. Maxim Group noted, “Search has started to generate ad dollars. QIHU's stock has appreciated more than 30% since reporting 3Q12 results in late November 2012. Aside from the market anticipation for a recovering Chinese economy, we believe QIHU's search revenue prospects are the main driver of the strong up-run. According to our channel checks, QIHU has already started to run ads on its search and may have also signed a collaboration agreement with Google (GOOG, NR) that allows Google ads on its search result pages. We estimate that QIHU's revenue from Google will start contributing in 1Q13 at a split ratio higher than the 33% it received previously from directing search queries to Google.” Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. closed on Friday at $31.67.