Barrington Research Boosts Autobytel With Outperform Rating, Sets Aggressive Upside Of ~50%

In a report published Wednesday, Barrington Research analyst Gary Prestopino initiated coverage on

with an Outperform rating and a price target of $22. Analyst Gary Prestopino pointed out that Autobytel was a leader in providing "online consumer leads and marketing services to automotive dealers and OEMs throughout the United States." Moreover, the company remains poised to benefit from the "secular transition" of advertising spend from print to digital media and the Internet by automotive dealers and OEMs. Autobytel's internally generated leads have surged from 8 percent in 2008 to 72 percent in 2014. Moreover, conversion for such leads is roughly 18 percent, versus an industry average of 6-8 percent. "ABTL's total vehicles leads have increased 19.50% compounded annually from 2009 through 2014 versus growth in new vehicle sales of 9.63% over the same time period," Prestopino added. In the report Barrington Research noted, "We believe that ABTL can continue to capture increased share of the billions of dollars spent annually by dealers and manufacturers on automotive marketing services through gains within the new and used car leads business." Prestopino expects growth to be "a function of increased share of dealer wallet," driven by technology-related products that enhance the online shopping experience. He estimated upside to the price target at 47 percent.