On Monday came word that BofA Merrill Lynch downgraded Zynga to Underperform from Neutral – with a $3.80 price target. The firm’s Justin Post and Ryan Gee said, “…a lot of execution is already priced in the stock. We see some risk to 2014 guidance and need greater visibility on the product roadmap to support a more optimistic view.”
The Merrill Lynch team also pointed out excessive valuations. They said that Take-Two trades at less than 1-times 2015 sales, Zynga at over 3-times. They even think first quarter standalone bookings could look down, and said there is little visibility on new content and titles coming out.
On Tuesday came word that UBS Securities was raising its rating to Buy from neutral. The firm also raised the price target for Zynga’s stock up to $6.00 from $4.00.
Where UBS differs from Merrill Lynch is the belief that Zynga’s core operation has stabilized. Cost cuts and the recent $527 million acquisition were cited as positives as well. Unlike Merrill Lynch, UBS thinks that first quarter guidance and 2014 guidance will prove to be conservative.
One last view is from Schaeffer’s Investment Research – saying that any more upward moves could allow Zynga shares to benefit from near-term short covering.
Zynga shares were up 3% in mid-afternoon at $4.63 against a 52-week trading range of $2.50 to $4.97. The stock was closer to $3.50 before last week’s news, and the stock’s $4.97 high was also hit on Tuesday after the upgrade.
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