Renren (NASDAQ: RENN) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Maxim Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.
The analysts wrote, “RENN’s share price declined more than 20% since the company reported its 1Q12 results, mainly due to the weak performance of its arguable U.S. counterpart, Facebook (FB, $28.15, NR). At current levels, RENN is trading closer to its cash and book value at the end of March 2012, $2.70/share and $3.08/share, respectively. Despite RENN’s fundamentals remain weak, y/y declining ad revenue, increasing reliance on game revenue, low visibility on outcomes of current heavy investment, and uncertainty of timeline to profitability, we believe RENN should trade above its cash level given its sizable user base and a series initiatives in building mobile social networks. The current price level is supported by our DCF analysis.”
RENN has been the subject of a number of other recent research reports. Analysts at Jefferies Group (NYSE: JEF) cut their price target on shares of Renren from $5.49 to $4.89 in a research note to investors on Tuesday, May 15th. Separately, analysts at Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) raised their price target on shares of Renren from $5.70 to $5.90 in a research note to investors on Tuesday, May 15th. Finally, analysts at Barclays Capital (NYSE: BCS) raised their price target on shares of Renren from $5.50 to $5.80 in a research note to investors on Tuesday, May 15th.
Shares of Renren traded down 0.88% during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $4.51. Renren has a 52 week low of $3.21 and a 52 week high of $13.22. The company has a market cap of $1.758 billion and a P/E ratio of 54.82.
Renren last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 14th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.01. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 55.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Renren will post $-0.03 earnings per share next quarter.
Renren Inc. (Renren), formerly Oak Pacific Interative, is a social networking Internet platform in China.
