Cowen & Co. Upgrades 21st Century Fox on Withdrawal of Time Warner Bid

Following the announcement that 21st Century Fox

rescinded its bid for Time Warner

, Cowen & Co. analyst, Doug Creutz upgraded shares of Fox from Underperform to Market Perform and raised the price target from $29 to $35. Creutz has chosen to move the stock to market perform rather than outperform, as it was before the bid, because he believes there will be lingering concern among investors as to the company's capital allocation strategy. "Fox's 'walk away' makes sense to us whether or not you really believe they have lost interest in pursuing a Time Warner acquisition," Creutz said. "We do not rule out the possibility that talks could [quietly] commence in the future if Time Warner's board begins to feel pressure from investors due to lagging share price. However, we do believe Fox is highly unlikely to make another public, unsolicited offer for Time Warner." That said, Creutz believes shareholders of companies owned by Murdoch still face risk related "acquisition addiction" coupled with the "loaded gun" of excess liquidity.