Zynga Inc: Rating Reaffirmed By Pacific Crest, Upgraded By Vetr

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Pacific Crest analysts reaffirmed their Equal Weight rating on Zynga in a note issued on Wednesday. Also analysts at Vetr upgraded the game maker’s stock from Buy to Strong Buy with a price target of $2.90 in a note released on Monday.

Gaming trend in support of Zynga

Zynga has seen a sharp decline in recent years owing to various challenges in its business model. A disruption in its Facebook and web gaming businesses is one of the primary factors for its decline. Now the game maker is focusing on its mobile platform to regain its lost glory. Though the outlook for the global mobile gaming market looks positive, rising competition could hamper Zynga’s efforts.

According to Digi-Capital, the global mobile gaming market is expected to rise from $29 billion in 2015 to $45 billion in 2018, representing a CAGR of over 15%. In addition, overall gaming software revenue is expected to surge 8% from $88 billion to more than $110 billion by 2018. In terms of revenue, mobile gaming is expected to surpass that of traditional console games in 2015.

Zynga stands to benefit from this trend as it is now focusing on mobile and selected categories such as Social Casino, Racing, Action Strategy, Casual, and Invest & Express.

Consensus rating of Hold

In recent months, many analysts have released their verdicts on Zynga. In a research note on July 17, Zacks analysts slashed their rating on the game maker from Buy to Hold. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on the stock with an Equal Weight rating and a price target of $2.80 in a report on July 14. Sterne Agee CRT reiterated its Hold on Zynga in a report released on May 14. Piper Jaffray analysts reinstated their Neutral rating on the game maker but raised their price target from $2.50 to $3 in a report on May 10.

Overall, two analysts consider Zynga a Sell, 11 rate it a Hold, three have given it a Buy rating and one has a Strong Buy rating on the stock. Presently, Zynga has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $3.39.

In a positive sign for investors, short interest in the game maker has come down 5.6% to 38.85 million shares as of July 15 from 38,848,908 shares as of June 30.

At around 11:30 am Eastern, Zynga shares were up 0.8% at $2.53, and year to date the stock is down by over 7%.

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