Spreadtrum Comms (NASDAQ:SPRD) was downgraded by stock analysts at Jefferies Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Monday, AnalystRatingsNetwork reports. They currently have a $31.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $28.50. Jefferies Group’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 3.33% from the stock’s previous close.
The analysts wrote, “We continue to expect SPRD to close the transaction to be acquired by Tsinghua Unigroup, despite near-term business deterioration. We do not expect Tsinghua to raise the offer further. We revise up our PT to $31, matching the raised offer price. With only 3% upside, we downgrade SPRD to Hold from Buy. SPRD announced earlier that it had entered into a definitive merger agreement with Tsinghua at an offer price raised to $31 from $28.5 per ADS. While SPRD’s board of directors unanimously approved the merger agreement, the transaction is subject to approval by the shareholders of SPRD, and antitrust and other regulatory approvals. The raised offer price implies 12x our estimated 2013 earnings, which is consistent with our prior upside scenario with respect to the acquisition. We maintain our view that the transaction will likely close, and do not expect Tsinghua to further raise the offer.”
Shares of Spreadtrum Comms (NASDAQ:SPRD) opened at 30.00 on Monday. Spreadtrum Comms has a 52 week low of $14.50 and a 52 week high of $30.20. The stock’s 50-day moving average is currently $27.30. The company has a market cap of $1.453 billion and a P/E ratio of 17.54.
SPRD has been the subject of a number of other recent research reports. Analysts at Zacks upgraded shares of Spreadtrum Comms from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note to investors on Monday, July 15th. They now have a $31.20 price target on the stock. Separately, analysts at Canaccord Genuity downgraded shares of Spreadtrum Comms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note to investors on Friday, July 12th. They now have a $31.00 price target on the stock, up previously from $29.00. Finally, analysts at Topeka Capital Markets downgraded shares of Spreadtrum Comms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note to investors on Friday, July 12th. They now have a $31.00 price target on the stock, down previously from $32.00.
One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Spreadtrum Comms currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.12.
Spreadtrum Communications, Inc is a fabless semiconductor company that designs, develops and markets markets mobile chipset platforms for smartphones, feature phones and other consumer electronics products that support second generation (NASDAQ:SPRD), third generation (3G) and fourth generation (4G) wireless communications standards.
