MNTN, Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTN) is new on the televised advertising space as Mountain.com trying to take on the big search/ad players. Perhaps all that some investors will consider is that it is tied to actor and celebrity Ryan Reynolds. Its shares initially surged after the $16 per share initial public offering on May 22 to above $30 briefly before settling back down under $20 recently. It goes without saying that its post-IPO trading has been quite volatile, and insider sales have perhaps not exactly helped those who bought after the IPO.
With the post-IPO quiet period now ending, Wall Street analysts have issued a very mixed bag of research reports calling for limited upside to significant upside to the new price targets.
MNTN describes itself as the Hardest Working Software in Television for the best performance and simplicity for TV ads: Our self-serve technology makes running TV ads as easy as search and social and helps brands drive measurable conversions, revenue, site visits, and more.
The problem some strategic investors will have with the new analyst coverage is not just that some analysts still see significant upside ahead. Strategic investors have a harder time interpreting ratings and price targets as a whole when they are literally all over the spectrum.
Oggonomics always reminds is readers that no single analyst report should ever be the sole basis to buy or sell a stock. This is particularly true for aggressive “Buy” and “Outperform” ratings in a group. Investors have to do their own research because research analysts sometimes get their thesis wrong just like the rest of us.
Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Evercore ISI were the lead book-running managers for the offering. Here is how all of the analyst reports have lined up so far with ratings and price targets:
- Citizens initiated coverage as Market Outperform with a $23 price target.
- Citigroup (lead) initiated coverage as Neutral with a $22 price target.
- Loop Capital initiated coverage as Buy with a $29 price target.
- Morgan Stanley (lead) initiated coverage as Equal-Weight with a $20 price target.
- Needham initiated coverage as Buy with a $25 price target.
- Raymond James initiated coverage as Outperform with a $27 price target.
- Susquehanna initiated coverage as Positive with a $38 price target.
- Tigress Financial initiated coverage as Buy with a $28 price target.
The report from Evercore ISI has not yet been seen, but the consensus analyst price target from the eight brokerage firm reports seen so far would be close to $26.50 — but please note that the outlier target of $38 (Susquehanna) is significantly higher than MNTN’s peer analyst price targets.
Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) was listed as having sold some 412,500 shares. Here is a list of some other insiders listed as sellers into or around the IPO in late-May:
- Baroda Ventures LLC 532,130 shares sold
- Chairman Douglas 900,000 shares sold
- CFO Pohlen 255,232 shares sold
- COO Innes 176,933 shares sold
- Director Partovi 50,000 shares old
- Director Settle 800,000 shares sold
- Mercato Partners Growth III GP LLC 300,000 shares sold
MNTN closed at $18.51 last Friday, with a post-IPO range of $18.25 to $32.49. The stock was trading up roughly 10% at $20.20 on Monday morning with a market cap of just over $1.5 billion.
Please note that all analyst ratings and price targets mentioned above were issued by each firm named. Oggonomics does not have any formal rating nor any price target of its own on Hinge’s stock. Also please remember that none of these analyst reports, even those with the strongest conviction or implied upside, ever comes with any guarantees of profits and they never contain money-back guarantees in case you lose money.
