Groupon Shares Slump as Wedbush Sees Company as Takeover Prospect
Groupon (GRPN) - Get Groupon, Inc. Report shares slumped as Wedbush Securities analyst Ygal Arounian said the chances for a sale of the discount provider have risen, after it reported worse-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and said it would stop selling goods.
At last check Groupon shares traded at $1.72, down 44%. That's a record low for the stock, according to Bloomberg data. In the year through Tuesday the stock had dropped 13%.
“We see the fourth-quarter results (and the exit of goods) as increasing the likelihood of a takeout/merger,” the analyst wrote in a report.
Arounian has a merger partner in mind: “Our view is that Groupon and Yelp (YELP) - Get Yelp Inc Report would make a value-creating combination and that IAC (IAC) - Get IAC/InteractiveCorp. Report can be a trusted steward to manage.”
Yelp is the San Francisco business directory/review service. Analysts have cited the New York media-services group IAC/InterActive as a potential buyer of Yelp.
TheStreet Recommends
As for the earnings report, Groupon said Tuesday that adjusted earnings per share totaled 7 cents in the fourth quarter, less than half analysts’ consensus forecast of 15 cents, according to Refinitiv.
Revenue registered $612 million, 14% below analysts’ estimate of $709 million.
The earnings showed “weakness across the board,” Arounian said.
Groupon also said Tuesday that it would halt sales of merchandise by year-end, exiting what it called “a fiercely competitive, and in some cases economically irrational, retail landscape.”
Arounian supports the exit, but the merchandise operation “still does drive some traffic [to the company], so it is incumbent on Groupon to replace that traffic through marketing and moving impressions.”
He rates the company’s stock neutral and has a price target of $3.
