Clearwire Surging on Analyst Initiations

Clearwire (CLWR-NASDAQ) is seeing its quiet period now over.  Yesterday marked its lowest close since the IPO at $18.61, and maybe these positive analyst calls may help stabilize it.  So we have seen 8 initiations so far, with 7 of them positive:

Bear Stearns started as Peer Perform ($19 target).
Jefferies started as Buy ($22 target).
JP Morgan started as Overweight.
Morgan Stanley started as Overweight ($28 target).
Merrill Lynch started as Buy ($24 target).
Raymond James started as Outperform ($35 target).
Stifel Nicolaus started as Buy ($27 target).
Wachovia started as Outperform ($26 to $28 fair value range).

This still leaves Citigroup and ThinkEquity ratings unseen this morning, but this coverage group is really trying to defend the shares after putting in its lowest close.  This one may get some notice since most of the initiations were positive ratings and since it has dropped so much since the IPO.  Pali Research started this one as a Buy back in March, but they were not part of the underwriting group.

So far shares are up 6% pre-market at $19.75 on 125,000 shares.  That may be too much of a bump for a quiet period ending and it may be the norm, but it shows that at least some are trying to see if the carnage is coming to an end or slowing down on the nation’s largest pure-play WiMAX company.

Jon C. Ogg
April 17, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at [email protected]; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.