Friday March 3, 9:10 am Eastern Time
RESEARCH ALERT-Palm Inc. buy repeated
CHICAGO, March 3 (Reuters) - ABN AMRO on Friday repeated its buy rating on Palm Inc., maker of the Palm Pilot hand-held devices, and said it would review its $90 price target after trading in the stock stabilized.
-- Analyst Jonathan Ross, who initiated coverage of Palm on Thursday with a buy rating, said he had not expected such volatility when Palm made its stock market debut on Thursday. The stock opened at $150 per share and traded as high as $165 before closing at 95-1/16.
-- ``We did not expect to see such volatility at the open, given the run-up in 3Com (NasdaqNM:COMS - news) in anticipation of the float, but it nevertheless appears that retail interest drove substantial volume at the open,' Ross said in a research note.
-- ``We will revisit our price target and rating after trading in the stock stabilizes -- we eagerly await upside catalysts such as announcements of large enterprise deployments, strategic licensing agreements, content deals and continued platform innovation,' he said.
-- ``Our long-term view of Palm is as rosy as yesterday's, but we assert that the implied discount between Palm and 3Com's Palm stake is the best way to play Palm for now -- 3Com shares still yield 71 percent upside to our Palm target,' Ross said.
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