Former Hedge Fund Manager: If Google Performs Slightly Better Than In-Line, The Stock Will Pop

could get a boost if it beats analyst expectations. The company is scheduled to report its fourth quarter results after the market close Thursday. Cody Willard, a former hedge fund manager and chairman of

(a financial social network), thinks that investor apathy could work in its favor. "The stock has just been in such a funk that I'm sick of it," Willard told Benzinga. "I've owned Google since the day it came public, so you know Wall Street is sick of it too. That's good for expectations to be…not just low, but Wall Street is apathetic to Google's earnings report. If there's anything decent, if the company does slightly better than in-line, the stock will pop."

Google officially

Glass in its current form, effectively ending the firm's first augmented reality initiative. The company plans to rework Glass and release it as a consumer product at some point in the future, but no one knows if or when that may actually occur. "They'll be asked about that type of stuff [during the Q&A]," said Willard. "At some point Google will surprise us this year by announcing something that nobody's thought of or realize they've been working on in their back labs." Willard theorized that Google could use its conference call to make an announcement along those lines but said it wasn't very likely. Ultimately, Willard doesn't expect an exciting report but reiterated that the stock is "set up to pop because of the apathy around it." "They say the opposite of love isn't hate, it's apathy," he added. Google's many users indicate that consumers are anything but apathetic toward the firm. Investor sentiment may be a whole other story. Disclosure: