Media

Why More Analysts Are Pushing the Zynga Train Even Higher

Jon C. Ogg

Published: June 2, 2020 11:00 am

Last Updated: June 2, 2020 11:05 am

Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) has seen an active week in the wake of its $1.8 billion deal to acquire Peak. The Turkish game designer is set to expand Zynga’s reach and presence outside of the United States, and the companies already had a history.

While Wedbush Securities issued the first and most aggressive price target on Monday after the news, other Wall Street firms are trying to play catch-up on their targets and expectations.

Wedbush’s analyst call reiterated its Outperform rating and its price target went to $11.50 from $9.25. This has so far been the most aggressive upside, and it was covered in-depth late on Monday.

One firm that remained cautious on Zynga was Credit Suisse. It reiterated its Underperform rating but did lift its price target to $7 from $6. As for why Credit Suisse remains cautious here, the margin expansion opportunity and the higher annual free cash flow estimates for 2021 and beyond (to rise between 30% and 40%) do take the dilution into account.

As for the analysts that have been backing the deal with positive ratings and higher price targets, these were seen as follows:

• Benchmark reiterated its Buy rating and raised the price target to $11 from $9.
• Cowen reiterated it as Outperform and raised its price target to $10.50 from $9.50.
• KeyBanc Capital Markets reiterated it as Overweight and raised its target to $11 from $9.
• Morgan Stanley reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its price target from $8.25 to $11.
• Oppenheimer reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its target price to $11 from $9.
• Piper Sandler reiterated it as Overweight and raised its price target to $11 from $8.50.

Zynga shares traded down over 1% at $9.53 on Tuesday morning, but that was after hitting almost a decade high of $9.88 in the wake of the acquisition. That’s up from a 52-week low of $5.51.