WallStreetBlips - Latest Citigroup News Articles

Akamai Surges On Pair Of Upgrades

Fri, 4 Dec 2009 15:30:21 +0000

Akamai (AKAM) shares are trading higher this morning on a pair of analyst upgrades. Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney upped his rating to Buy from Hold on the content delivery network company, lifting his price target to $31, from $23. He cited three reasons for the upgrade. One , he says e-commerce has “clearly seen a resurgence,” noting that the sector is AKAM’s fastest growing segment. Two , he thinks the Street is under-estimating the impact of a recovery in both e-commerce and online ads in 2010. And three , he sees high-def video as an eventual driver, likely in 18-24 months. Oppenheimer analyst Srinivas Anantha lifted his rating to Outperform from Perform, setting a $30 target. Not to be outdone by Mahaney, he offers four reasons to upgrade. One , an “improving outlook” for media and entertainment sites. Two , secular growth of the company’s e-commerce segment. Three , faster-than-expected diversification into value-added services. And four ...

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Netflix: Citi Downgrades On Valuation

Fri, 4 Dec 2009 15:18:01 +0000

That’s a wrap. Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney this morning cut his rating on Netflix ( NFLX) to Hold from Buy, while maintaining his $59 price target. The stock yesterday closed at $57.99. With the stock nearing his target, he writes in a research note, the risk-reward in NFLX shares has become less compelling. Mahaney still views the DVD rental company as a core Internet holding, but suggests waiting for an entry point below $49. “This is purely a valuation call,” he writes. NFLX today is down 42 cents, or 0.7%, to $57.57.

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Stock Picks: Citigroup, Take-Two, Taubman

Fri, 4 Dec 2009 15:04:40 +0000

Wall Street analyst opinions on selected stocks in the news Friday

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Stocks on the Move: BofA, Citigroup, Comcast

Thu, 3 Dec 2009 15:22:59 +0000

Plus more stocks making headlines in Thursday's market

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Abu Dhabi's Citigroup Investment Turns Costly

Thu, 3 Dec 2009 13:15:50 +0000

Because of an investment deal struck two years ago, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority fund will soon start purchasing $7.5 billion in Citigroup shares at $31.83 apiece, even though the New York bank's stock closed at $4.10 on Wednesday.

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Banks and information technology: Silo but deadly

Thu, 3 Dec 2009 10:55:29 +0000

Messy IT systems are a neglected aspect of the financial crisis NO INDUSTRY spends more on information technology (IT) than financial services: about $500 billion globally, more than a fifth of the total (see chart). Many of the world’s computers, networking and storage systems live in the huge data centres run by banks. “Banks are essentially technology firms,” says Hugo Banziger, chief risk officer at Deutsche Bank. Yet the role of IT in the crisis is barely discussed. It should be. Corporate IT systems—collections of computers, applications and databases—always tend to be messy, but those of banks are particularly bad. They were the first to adopt computers: decades-old mainframes are still in use. Lots of product innovation means new systems, as does merger activity, which has proliferated in the industry in recent years: Citigroup had a notoriously fragmented IT set-up going into the crisis. The need to comply with regulations, and the global presence of big ...

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Hedge-Fund Veterans Start New Fund

Wed, 2 Dec 2009 02:13:59 +0000

Four founding partners of former Citigroup hedge fund Old Lane, including its ex-chief executive Guru Ramakrishnan, have launched a $300 million firm that is one of the biggest U.S. hedge-fund start-ups of the year.

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VistaPrint: Citi Turns Bullish, Lifts Target

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:53:50 +0000

VistaPrint (VPRT) shares are on the rise this morning after Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney raised his rating on the stock to Buy from Hold, while boosting his price target to $62, from $55. “We are taking advantage of the recent 13% pullback in VPRT shares to upgrade what we have consistently viewed as a core Internet holding and one of the handful of Net companies with a sustainable 20%-plus 3-year EPS growth outlook,” he writes in a research note. Mahaney thinks the market has over-reacted to the scathing recent Senate committee report on post-transaction marketing, which singled out Vistaprint as a beneficiary of the practice. He thinks investor reaction to the report misses the company’s margin expansion, and the “increasing immateriality” of the fees the company takes in from membership fees from the kind of purchasing clubs discussed in the report. He also notes that through the last three recession quarters, the company maintained 32%-35% core ...

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JSDU: Citi Launches With Buy Rating

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:44:16 +0000

JDSU (JDSU) shares are trading higher this morning after Citigroup analyst Kevin Dennean picked up coverage of the company with a Buy rating and a $9.50 price target. The stock closed yesterday at $7.40. Dennean says some investors need to re-familiarize themselves with the JDSU story, with a new business mix that is focused more on test and measurement equipment -a bout half of revenues - and less on optical components after a major restructuring. “JDSU is an intriguing mix of growth businesses - - secular, cyclical and steady - that we believe are all poised to fire synchronously in 2010,” he writes. Dunnean is looking for secular growth in communications test and measurement, a cyclical recovery in communications and commercial optical, and sustained steady growth in its advanced optical technology segment. He’s looking for EPS of 30 cents a share in FY March 2010 (two cents ahead of the Street) and 46 cents in FY 2011 (five cents ahead of the Street). JDSU today is ...

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National Semi Added To Citi Top Picks List

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:19:35 +0000

National Semiconductor (NSM) shares are trading higher this morning after the stock was added to Citigroup ’s Top Picks Live list. Analyst Terrence Whalen has a price target on the stock of $20, well ahead of yesterday’s close at $13.81. Whalen writes that downside appears limited, given higher exposure to the industrial segment and improving handset activity. He asserts that at 10x calendar 2010 free cash flow, the stock appears “mispriced” ahead of the company’s financial results, which are due December 10. Another positive for the stock: last night’s strong results from rival Analog Devices (ADI) , after similarly strong results from Infineon (IFX) and Maxim (MXIM) . NSM today is up 47 cents, or 3.4%, to $14.28.

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Bank Montreal to Buy Diners Club

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:46:26 +0000

Bank of Montreal agreed to buy Citigroup's Diners Club North American franchise, giving the big Canadian chartered bank exclusive rights to issue Diners cards in the U.S. and Canada.

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