Well, that was fast. Just moments after Sumner Redstone announced on Thursday plans to replace five board members of Viacom, including CEO and chairman Philippe Dauman, BTIG upgraded its position on the media company from “neutral” to “buy.”
The company set a new one-year price target of $55.
VIAB stock also jumped immediately after news broke that Redstone-controlled National Amusements shook up the company’s board membership pending court approval.
Here’s a snapshot of the full Viacom trading day:
“After Viacom’s Board and management are changed, we expect National Amusements to move quickly to recombine Viacom and CBS (remains unclear legally if a majority of the minority vote is needed),” BTIG wrote. “As a recombination is set in motion, there is the potential for an outside bidder to look at Viacom, which we suspect National Amusements would entertain.”
“Barring a great bid for the whole of Viacom, we believe National Amusements knows its best strategic move is to move quickly to recombine Viacom and CBS,” analyst Rich Greenfield continued his Thursday blog post.
One step at a time.