Wunderlich Reiterates Buy Rating on Research in Motion (RIMM)

Wunderlich Securities is out with a research report this morning, where it reiterates its Buy rating on Research in Motion Ltd.

; it has an $85.00 price target on the stock. The WS analysts cited the recent rumors that the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia appear ready to curtail all or part of the BlackBerry service in those regions due to security concerns. They added that RIMM could see tough sequential comparisons for subscriber additions this quarter and next depending on how quickly recently launched service in China Develops and if the company decides not to engage in further Middle East negotiations. The WS analyst added that they believe the nature of the Middle Eastern news is “distracting enough that tomorrow’s AT&T event must include a compelling introduction of a BlackBerry 6 phone with multi-touch to overcome it.” As for valuation, they said, “Our $85.00 target is comparable to the S&P multiple applied to the out year. Our GAAP earnings estimate for FY12 is $6.15; our forecast for 2012 earnings before stock compensation and amortization is $7.23. Our target is 13.8x our GAAP estimate for 2012. The current multiple of 2010E S&P 500 operating earnings is 13.6x.”