Vetr Crowd Upgrades Sina Corp: What You Should Know

• Shares of SINA Corp SINA gained roughly 35 percent since the beginning of the year, and more than 30 percent over the past three months.
• Shares were rose 2.06 percent on Monday, closing at $50.57.
• Collectively, the Vetr crowd has decided to upgrade the stock from 2.5 stars to 3 stars.

Broadly speaking, the Vetr crowd is becoming increasingly bullish on Chinese online media company Sina. On Monday, they upgraded the stock from 2.5 stars to 3 stars, although only 28.6 percent of the crowd's ratings are optimistic – Buy. 42.9 percent of the people at Vetr believe the stock is a Sell, and 28.6 percent, a hold.

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Moreover, the crowd has established a $48.88 target price for the stock, which implies a ~1.5 percent downside from current prices. Wall Street is slightly more bullish, and sports an average price target of $52.49.

Among major Wall Street research firms, impressions are mixed. On Monday, analysts at Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral, setting a $50 price target. A couple of weeks ago, Brean Capital reiterated a Buy rating and $55 price target. And, about a month ago, Citigroup also downgraded the shares from Buy to Neutral, fixing a $48.90 price target. So, overall, the stock does not seem to have much upside potential left for the medium-term.

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Goldman analyst Mubayi explained that his downgrade was based on his view that “SINA’s portal business is likely to remain under pressure. He added that Weibo could outperform within the SINA ecosystem. While Weibo generated total revenue growth of 48 percent in 3Q15, it could record 35 percent and 32 percent revenue growth in 2016 and 17, respectively.”

“Vertical strategy remains as a key focus for SINA, but with limited financial impact in the short term. Key areas include internet finance, automobile, and sports but it might take time to bear fruit,” the report explicated.

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