ISRAEL: RESEARCH ALERT - Salomon starts Zoran .
08/26/1999
Reuters English News Service
(C) Reuters Limited 1999.
JERUSALEM, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Salomon Smith Barney said it initiated coverage of U.S.-Israeli semiconductor compression solution firm Zoran Inc with a 2H rating.
Analyst Victor Halpert set a price target of $34. Zoran shares closed on Wednesday at 29-7/8 and were trading at 32-9/16 early on Thursday.
Halpert said he expected Zoran to show 36 percent compounded annual growth and for earnings to reach $0.44 per share in 1999, $0.92 in 2000 and $1.36 in 2001. He warned, however, that the company's earnings performance had been inconsistent.
"A recent Disney announcement supporting DVD validates the enitre industry and has ignoted interest in Zoran. Indeed, we believe that Zoran, the nearest things to a DVD pure play, will be a major beenficiary of DVD growth," he said in a report.
Halpert said that although Zoran traded at a "rich valuation" of 70.4 times his 1999 estimate earnings, the share had upside because of strong growth prospects and even steeper valuations for peers. ((Jerusalem newsroom, +972 2 537-0502, jerusalem.newsroom@reuters.com)). |
