Underwriters & Analysts Turn Back on CBOE (CBOE)

CBOE Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOE) is trading as a busted IPO under its formal IPO pricing.  The $29.00 price was up 13% in June when the deal came public but closed Friday at $27.15.  The quiet period for research analysts at firms in the underwriting group has now ended and the analyst calls are extremely muted.  The calls are so muted that the price targets effectively do not even matter.  Here are some of the calls seen so far this morning:

• Started as Market Perform at BMO;
• Started as Equal-weight at Barclays;
• Started as Hold at Citigroup;
• Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse;
• Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs;
• Started as Market Perform at KBW;
• Started as Neutral at JPMorgan;
• Started as Neutral at UBS.

The first firm to cover this issue did so before the IPO even began trading.  That call was an “Outperform” at CLSA with a $32.00 target, which means it was even fully valued to the positive crowd at the open of trading.

Earlier in July that Ticonderoga Securities gave this a “Sell” rating with a $24.50 price objective.

The highest the stock hit was $34.18 on June 24 and shares hit a low of $26.00 on July 20.  Its highest closing price was $33.48 on June 23 and the lowest closing price was $26.08 on July 20.

Oddly enough, the calls of caution here are not so much on competition and are not so much on the regulatory environment.  The deal was rich when it priced and the busted-IPO status it has seen since July 8 has effectively made this a value-concern more than anything else.  If share prices drift lower, then the analysts are likely to upgrade the stock.

JON C. OGG