Benzinga's Initiation Summary for June 27, 2012

Listed below are today's Top Initiations covered by Benzinga:

Sterne Agee went on to say “We are favorably disposed to the strategy, management and long-term prospects, but lack near-term visibility on deal flow to deploy capital and offset covered loan run-off. Absent a change in the backdrop of limited M&A and low reinvestment rates, we anticipate a sideways trading range with upside limited by risks to EPS expectations and downside limited by excess capital and TBVS growth.”

Piper Jaffray comments, "While Pandora has emerged as the leader in internet radio and has achieved remarkable growth by most metrics, we see challenges ahead for the company. Management has done a commendable job to date establishing its market leading position (and legitimizing the streamed music model for consumers), but we see inherent structural flaws in the internet radio industry, a debatable business model, and the entrance of new competitors limiting options from here. As competition heats up, we expect investors will seek some consolation in Pandora's first-mover and market leading positioning, but this increased scrutiny will likely reveal few of the competitive advantages we see necessary to sustain a profitable leadership role."

Stifel Nicolaus comments, "Our Buy recommendation is based on three core principles: 1) Strategic Value: Zynga comprises 19% of Facebook's revenues and would give a strategic buyer like GOOG or MSFT a foothold in social media; 2) All else equal, Zynga is more likely to launch a hit title than its peers due to its clever marketing practices and existing market share on the FB platform; and 3) The popularity of social games continues to increase, even if game play shifts to mobile devices. Our $8.50 target price assumes that shares trade back to a 10x EV/EBITDA multiple, using 2013 estimates, with modest downside from current levels."

BGB Securities comments, "Near-term headwinds should not be allowed to obscure the excellent long-term investment opportunity that MATW shares currently present. While weak economic conditions (particularly in Europe), high commodity costs and a low U.S. death rate pose significant challenges for MATW's near-term results, we think that these factors are largely transitory in nature. In our opinion, investors should focus more on the long-term strengths of MATW's businesses."

Cantor Fitzgerald notes, "Accelrys is a pure-play, scientific software products and services company that provides tools across the R&D life cycle for the pharmaceutical, academic, food and beverage, chemical and materials industries. Since the merger with comparably-sized software provider Symyx in mid-2010, ACCL has focused on integration, restructuring, and strengthening its product portfolio over the last 18+ months. Although both ACCL and Symyx as standalone companies have struggled with top-line growth over several years, we believe the combined company has emerged better positioned to capitalize on high-growth opportunities within the scientific informatics market."

Credit Suisse comments, "We initiate coverage of BBEP with a Neutral rating and $16 target price. In our view, BBEP's unit price fairly reflects the company's slowing distribution growth prospects. Based on the current price, we forecast a total return of 10%. …We see BBEP's focus shifting from growing the distribution to preserving it. Following a period of renewed growth at the partnership, BBEP faces a series of headwinds in 2013-14 owing to (1) a backwardated hedge portfolio and (2) lower commodity prices."