It’s interesting what can drive the ups and downs of a publicly traded stock.
On Thursday evening, a Barron’s associate editor said iHeartMedia stock was “poised to climb” after bankruptcy and its upcoming Q2 earnings report.
Behold, IHRT was up by nearly 5% in Monday’s trading.
On volume of 689,700 shares (average volume is 146,982 shares), iHeartMedia was up 4.7% to $13.48.
The jump helps iHeart shares, as they’ve been on a down trend since hitting $17.35 on July 15.
In fact, Friday’s close was the lowest for the “new” iHeart since exiting debtor-in-possession status and getting an all-new stock symbol to go with its return to Nasdaq.
Why does Barron’s single out iHeart? It says that it exited bankruptcy protection “slimmer and fitter,” and thanks to its debt slice “is well-positioned in the fast-growing and competitive digital streaming and podcasting business.”
Nevermind that iHeart is the nation’s No. 1 owner of AM and FM radio stations, with many in smaller markets.
That commentary was left to analyst Hamed Khorand, who founded BWS Financial in 2000.
“It’s the largest radio company in the country and has a strong digital presence,” Khorand said. “Now that the company is in better financial condition, it will be able to better invest in the business and grow.”
In fact, Khorand is such a supporter of iHeart that it put a $30 1-year target price on the stock.
The consensus estimate for iHeart, according to Yahoo! Finance, is presently $25.50.
