The following list includes ratings changes and financial information for wireless companies announced this week by investment-banking and financial-services firms.
Carrier
–Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services assigned a B- corporate credit rating to Virgin Mobile USA Inc. The outlook is stable. Lehman Brothers upgraded the company to overweight from neutral and assigned it a $13 price target.
Handset and infrastructure vendors
–Credit Suisse First Boston lowered its estimates on L.M. Ericsson based on a slower recovery in margins and cash flow. Lehman Brothers lowered its price target on Ericsson to $27 from $32 and lowered its EPS estimates to $2.01 from $2.03 for 2007 and to $2.02 from $2.14 for 2008.
Other
–Baird Equity Research upgraded OmniVision Technologies to neutral to underperform on valuation, solid outlook for VGA resolution next year, potentially higher ASPs with wafer-level modules starting to ramp next year and potential gross margin expansion. The firm also raised its price target on the company to $22 from $14 and raised its estimates to $1.81 from $1.63 for 2008 and to $1.59 from $1.24 for 2009. Baird analysts note the upgrade is short term.
–Broadpoint Securities lowered its estimates on InterDigital Communications Corp. after the company offered lighter-than-expected fourth-quarter guidance. The firm’s new 2007 estimates for the company are 56 cents on revenues of $234 million, down from 59 cents on $236.4 million.
Financial ratings wrap-up: Virgin, Ericsson, OmniVision and more
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