"The Ratings Game" - Comverse visibility improves: Lehman
cbs.marketwatch.com
By Susan Lerner, CBS MarketWatch
Last Update: 4:44 PM ET Jan 28, 2000
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Who needs an upgrade? All Lehman Brothers analyst Tim Luke had to do was raise his $150 price target on Comverse Technology to $175 and shares of the wireless messaging company soared, reaching an intra-day high of 150 15/16.
Telling clients he was taking the opportunity provided by the stock's recent weakness to reiterate his "buy" recommendation, Luke said the company (CMVT: news, msgs) continues to see extremely strong business trends and is likely to exceed his estimates for revenues, backlog, margins, and earnings per share when it reports fourth-quarter results the first week in March.
"CMVT's visibility is at record levels as the company expands its market share and launches a series of new high margin services and platforms including prepaid services, short messaging services and unified messaging," Luke said in his research note.
Furthermore, Luke said checks with two major U.S. wireless vendors lead him to believe the company may be poised to announce several new account wins in the next several months.
Luke said recent concerns over competition from small wireless e-mail vendors appear to be greatly overstated, adding that he thinks Comverse is likely to emerge as a major player in this market.
The stock ended the day up 3 13/16 at 140 5/16.
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