UPDATE: J.P. Morgan Initiates Coverage on Phoenix New Media on Market Leader Position

In a report published Friday, J.P. Morgan analyst Alex Yao initiated coverage on

with an Overweight rating and $11.00 price target. In the report, J.P. Morgan noted, “We initiate coverage on Phoenix New Media (PNM) with an Overweight rating and a Jun-14 PT of USD11. Phoenix is one of the leading online information portals in China with strong traffic growth. Monetization of portal traffic still lags leaders such as Sina and Sohu in terms of ads pricing. Despite an uncertain brand ads outlook, we believe NM's unique content and fasting growing but under-monetized traffic will allow it to capture steady growth over the next 12 months.” Phoenix New Media Ltd. closed on Thursday at $8.84.