Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC (OZM)

[eastunder]

Will This Price Target Cut Hurt Och-Ziff Capital Management (OZM) Today?


BY Shawn Ingram | 04/08/14 - 09:27 AM EDT

http://www.thestreet.com/story/12632558/1/will-this-price-target-cut-hurt-och-ziff-capital-management-ozm-today.html?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO



Story updated at 10 a.m. to reflect market activity.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Jefferies cut its price target for Och-Ziff Capital Management (OZM_) to $16 from $18 Tuesday.

Shares of Och-Ziff Capital Management fell 2.9% to $12.18 in morning trading.


The analyst firm maintained its "buy" rating for the company. Analysts Daniel T. Fannon, Surinder Thind, and Gerald E. O'Hara also cut EPS estimates for Och-Ziff Capital Management, saying the cuts were driven by modest earnings revisions.


Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates OCH-ZIFF CAPITAL MGMT LP as a Hold with a ratings score of C+. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate OCH-ZIFF CAPITAL MGMT LP (OZM) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed -- some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, expanding profit margins and solid stock price performance. However, as a counter to these strengths, we find that the growth in the company's earnings per share has not been good."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

The revenue growth greatly exceeded the industry average of 7.7%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues rose by 48.0%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.

The gross profit margin for OCH-ZIFF CAPITAL MGMT LP is rather high; currently it is at 62.45%. It has increased from the same quarter the previous year. Along with this, the net profit margin of 18.27% is above that of the industry average.

Powered by its strong earnings growth of 229.41% and other important driving factors, this stock has surged by 43.91% over the past year, outperforming the rise in the S&P 500 Index during the same period. Regarding the stock's future course, our hold rating indicates that we do not recommend additional investment in this stock despite its gains in the past year.

OCH-ZIFF CAPITAL MGMT LP reported significant earnings per share improvement in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. We feel that this trend should continue. This trend suggests that the performance of the business is improving. During the past fiscal year, OCH-ZIFF CAPITAL MGMT LP turned its bottom line around by earning $1.46 versus -$2.24 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($1.55 versus $1.46).

The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has significantly exceeded that of the S&P 500 and the Capital Markets industry. The net income increased by 286.4% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from $50.67 million to $195.79 million.