CIBC will be faced with raising their target again, putting a hold on it, or saying nothing. Either way, they are comming across as a firm that hasn't a clue how to value this 'thing.
Since Blodget affirmed publicly that his $400/shr target was a 12-month target, he will either have to do a mea culpa, or say nothing, or simply say that the stock has reached his target. Or he will simply have to admit that he is a plain-old mo-mo kinda guy, and raise his target. With such a high-profile and jaw-dropping target upgrade as was already made, none of those alternatives look very attractive.
And of course everyone must be aware that if Blodget had worked for Warren Buffet, he would probably have been fired for attempting to value an internut.
I have seen how Lehman handles it when a stock reaches a 12 month target two months after declaring the target. They say they are still bullish on the company, but are not raising their target, and don't see meaningfull share appreciation in the near future. In other words, they simply acknowledge that the stock reached their target sooner than expected, and they back off saying more. In that case, (QNTM), the stock went up another 10%, and that was it. There was a glass ceiling, and then it was downhill from there, albeit a rocky ride of fits and half-starts. But the trend was down. |
