EchoStar Stock Surges on AT&T Takeover Talk

AT&T Reports Boosted Satellite-TV Company’s Stock, Then Weak 3Q Earnings Dropped It

By Jon Hemingway -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/19/2007 11:25:00 AM

EchoStar Communications stock is on the rise again on reports that the satellite-TV company will be a takeover target.

The company’s stock has been pushed around in recent weeks, bid higher on press reports that AT&T will make an overture to buy the company, only to be beaten back following a weak earnings announcement.

On Friday, Citigroup analyst Jason Bazinet upgraded the stock to a buy based on the attractive valuation after the pullback and a 65% chance that the company will be bought by AT&T in the next 12 months. “We think the market has more than priced in the higher churn and related subprime,” Bazinet wrote, “but it is not factoring in the likelihood of AT&T buying Dish.”

Bazinet set a price target of $52 per share for EchoStar, which was up $4.33 or 11% this morning to $44.18 per share.