Lipman Electronic Engineering Ltd (LPMA) (LPMA)

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Merrill Lynch raises Lipman target to $33

23.3.06 | 12:45 By TheMarker

Merrill Lynch today raised its 12-month price target for Lipman Electronic Engineering (Nasdaq, TASE: LPMA) to $33, based on estimated earnings this year and in 2007.

The price objective is 20 times Merrill Lynch's estimate for Lipman's 2007 earnings of $1.62. This multiple represents a discount to competitor VeriFone's 2007 price/earnings multiple of 23, the bank says. But Lipman is a smaller company with a less diversified business, the analysts add.

Apropos of VeriFone - is it out to buy Lipman, or not? Merrill Lynch doesn't know. "We think a merger between these two companies would make both strategic and financial sense as it would likely be very accretive to VeriFone while potentially providing an attractive price to Lipman shareholders," the bank adds. But even as a stand-alone, the analysts added: "?we think Lipman shares can trade higher based on improving fundamentals, a very healthy balance sheet, and a strong market environment."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/697849.html

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