Piper Jaffray Expects Sina Weibo to Remain Top Platform

Piper Jaffray has published a research report on SINA Corporation SINA as the company's Sina Weibo is expected to remain the top platform. In the report, Piper Jaffray writes, "Reuters is reporting that the Chinese government said it would be requiring microblog users (Sina Weibo) to register their real names with the government. While the details of the plan are vague, it is our belief that the policy is focused on users that post updates and may not effect users that only come to view pictures, play games, or engage in activities other than status updates/commenting. The bottom line is that the new policy has a chance of impacting the quality/quantity of content on Sina Weibo, but we believe investors have already significantly discounted Weibo - based on current levels, the value of Weibo appears to be ~$1 billion." Piper Jaffray maintains its Overweight rating and $139 price target on SINA, which is currently trading down $4.97 from yesterday's $52.80 closing price.