J.P. Morgan is Optimistic on Pandora, Raised PT Prior to Earnings

In a report published Friday, J.P. Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth maintained an Overweight rating on Pandora Media, Inc. and raised the price target from $25 to $35. Next Thursday, Pandora will release third quarter 2014 earnings. Anmuth commented that investors should look for mobile as RPM acceleration, competitive landscape and listener trends commentary, buy-side platform integration impact, potential international expansion plans, and the new CEO vision for the company. Further, the analyst noted that Pandora performed well in the first month of the iTunes Radio launch. J.P. Morgan added, "We believe Pandora is approaching an inflection point in monetization driven by the combined benefits of its growing market share, buy-side platform integration, and expanding salesforce. Pandora should also benefit from Arbitron ultimately measuring Internet radio, which we believe will accelerate the pace of advertiser migration from terrestrial radio." Pandora closed at $29.47 on Thursday and shares are surging +7.10%.