Underwriters Make Up Their Minds on Match Following Quiet Period

Match Group Inc. (NASDAQ: MTCH) is all about bringing people together, as perhaps the largest conglomerate of dating sites and services in the world. This company only recently became public and people are still trying to decide what they think about Match. Well the underwriters are here to help, with the quiet period having just come to a close.

While the company had an expected IPO price range of $12 to $14, shares actually priced at $13.50, closer to the higher end of the range. Despite going up and down with the markets since that time, the stock is more or less back to where it started. The stock is 6% off the post-IPO low.

Match is the world’s leading provider of dating products. It operates a portfolio of over 45 brands, including Match, OkCupid, Tinder, Meetic, Twoo, OurTime and FriendScout24, each designed to increase users’ likelihood of finding a romantic connection. Through its portfolio of trusted brands, Match provides tailored products to meet the varying preferences of the users. In addition, the company has agreed to acquire Plentyoffish Media.

Match currently offers its dating products in 38 languages across over 190 countries, and it had approximately 59 million monthly active users and roughly 4.7 million paid members using its dating products as of the quarter ended September 30, 2015.
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After the quiet period ended, the underwriters took the opportunity to weigh in on Match:

• BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and $18 price target.
• Goldman Sachs went the opposite direction, starting Match with a Sell rating and a mere $12 price target.
• JPMorgan started it as Neutral with an $16 price target.
• Merrill Lynch started it as Buy with an $18 price objective.
• Deutsche Bank started Match as Buy with a $18 price target.
• Barclays started it as Overweight with a $17 price target.

Shares of Match were trading down 3.3% at $13.39 Monday morning, with a consensus analyst price target of $15.33 and a post-IPO trading range of $12.63 to $16.17.