Publishing and Broadcasting

Publishing and Broadcasting (PBL) have an Outperform shares recommendation from stock analyst Macquarie Research Equities (MRE). US investors enthusiastically embraced the future of gambling overnight, sending the shares of newly listed Melco PBL Entertainment on the American Nasdaq soaring almost 14%. The company's listing made Melco the third richest US IPO of the year. Melco PBL Entertainment, a joint venture between Australia's PBL and Hong Kong-based Melco International Development, had initially targeted an IPO price range of $16-$18 per share, however high demand saw the IPO priced beyond this range, at $19 per share. The company also increased its offering to 60.3 million American depositary shares from the initial 53 million shares. The shares hit a high of +18%; the shares closed the session at an impressive US$21.61, up 13.74%, on heavy turnover of more than 48 million shares. The company (MPEL) is expected to become a major casino operator in Macau, the only place in China that allows casino gambling, when it opens its City of Dreams mega-resort in mid-2008. The company plans to open its first casino-hotel, the Crown Macau, in April 2007. It currently operates a chain of slot-machine parlours in the booming Chinese territory, with approx. 30% market share. Some market analysts claim that Macau, the former Portuguese colony that is now a Chinese territory, has the potential to compete with and take over from Las Vegas as the world’s primary gambling city.

ABN Amro have rated the Publishing & Broadcasting (PBL) stock with a Buy recommendation with a short term share price target range of $17.50 to $17.70. The broker retains their long term rating while noting potential short term upside, estimating that the Macau operations are a free option at current prices.

Deutsche Bank have rated the stock as Publishing and Broadcasting (PBL) Buy. The analysts from the bank went to Hollywood and have seen that the 25 percent New Regency studio that PBL have invested in is worth more than they initially thought increasing their valuation of the stake from $295m to $334m.

Macquarie Research Equities (MRE) has noted that about 65% of companies now having reported their profit results to the market. Stocks in the ASX100 have recorded 22 positive surprises and 9 negative surprises for the reporting season to date. The Ex100 was more volatile and reported 29 positive and 28 negative surprises.