American Green Inc (ERBB)

[triton]

Looks like some panic sets in at MVSN camp

William Blair & Company Initiates Coverage of Macrovision Corporation With Outperform Rating
November 19, 2004 11:24:00 AM ET


CHICAGO, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- William Blair & Company today announced that it initiated research coverage of Macrovision Corporation MVSN ($26.26), the industry leader for copy protection, digital rights management, and software licensing technologies designed to deter casual pirating and to control electronically the use of digital content and software, with an Outperform rating and company profile of Aggressive Growth.

Analyst David Farina and Associate Analyst Ralph Schackart estimated that the company, which an estimated 65% share of the DVD market, 90% of the digital set-top-box market, and 70%-plus share of the software electronic licensing market, would generate pro forma earnings per share of $0.88 in 2004 and $1.01 in 2005.

"We believe the current macro environment is favorable for the company's copy protection and digital rights business, given that U.S. businesses lose $250 billion per year as a result of piracy, worldwide piracy rates are increasing, and the Internet is an unpluggable content-distribution hole," Farina said. "In our opinion, these fundamental macro conditions paint a compelling picture for Macrovision's de facto industry-standard technologies, which are highly proprietary and recurring in nature."

"We believe Macrovision has one of the world's most dominant copy- protection patent portfolios," Schackart added. "Its portfolio includes more than 164 domestic and 864 international patents -- issued or pending -- covering copy-protection technologies, video scrambling, and audio scrambling. In addition, Macrovision's portfolio includes patents that prevent unauthorized parties from developing processes or devices that could be used to circumvent copy protection. This comprehensive patent portfolio, coupled with the company's willingness to enforce its patents (Macrovision has never lost an enforcement case), makes Macrovision an extremely proprietary software company."

William Blair & Company, L.L.C. ( http://www.williamblair.com ) is a Chicago-based investment firm, founded in 1935, offering investment banking, asset management, equity research, institutional and private brokerage, and private capital to individual, institutional, and issuing clients. We place a high value on the enduring nature of our client relationships, the quality of our products and services, and the continuity and integrity of our people. William Blair & Company has offices in Chicago, Hartford, London, San Francisco, Tokyo, Vaduz, and Zurich.

William Blair & Company, L.L.C. has received compensation for investment banking services from the company within the past 12 months, or expects to receive or intends to seek compensation for investment banking services in the next 3 months.

William Blair & Company, L.L.C. is a market maker in the security of this company and may have a long or short position.

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