Wall Street Starting To 'Swipe Right' –Or Like- On Match Group

• Match Group Inc MTCH started trading in the Nasdaq exchange on November 20.
• Since that date, the stock has lost 8 percent of its value.
• However, Wall Street research firms, which were slightly bearish at first, are now turning increasingly bullish on the company.

As more Wall Street research firms weigh in on Match Group, overall sentiment is becoming more bullish.

A few days after the company’s IPO, Axiom initiated coverage with a Buy rating and $18 price target, while BTIG assumed coverage with a Sell rating and $11 price target.

Related Link: Victor Anthony Loves Social Stocks After Twitter Polls

As weeks went by, other major Wall Street research firms started to weigh in.

• On December 7, Wells Fargo initiated coverage with an Outperform rating.
• On December 10, UBS assumed coverage with a Buy rating and an $18 price target.

Finally, on Monday:

• Barclays issued an Overweight rating and $17 price target
• Cowen & Company, an Outperform rating and $18 price target
• BMO Capital Markets, an Outperform rating and $18 price target
• Deutsche Bank, a Buy rating and $18 price target

However, some firms like JP Morgan –which rates the stock a Neutral, with a 16 price target- and Goldman Sachs –with a Sell rating and $12 price target- still seem unconvinced by the story.

A Few Bullish Arguments

Finally, let’s take a look at some of the arguments the Match Group bulls are presenting.

Barclays analyst Christopher Merwin explained that, “Online dating has been around since the 90s, and since that time we believe The Match Group - and its growing portfolio of brands - has been the undisputed leader.” However, he continued, in recent years, the shift to mobile has proved to be “a double-edged sword,” since it has led to platforms like Tinder and a “new end market of millennial daters.”

In addition, analysts at Deutsche Bank explicated that Match is “one of the few public smid-cap internets that is a category leader in its subsector [and] … hence should trade to a growth-adjusted premium multiple, above current levels.” Moreover, they noted, the company is “the dominant horizontal play in the dating space for both PC and mobile. Financial performance in 2015 was sub-par and masked by several one-time items,” but they expect 2016 profitability to increase significantly, and thus recommend Buying the stock.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned above.