MACROVISION CORP (MVSN)

[kenco]

William Blair & Company Initiates Coverage of Macrovision Corporation With Outperform Rating

CHICAGO, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- William Blair & Company today announced
that it initiated research coverage of Macrovision Corporation (Nasdaq: 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,
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William Blair & Company has offices in Chicago, Hartford, London, San
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William Blair & Company, L.L.C. has received compensation for investment
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receive or intends to seek compensation for investment banking services in the
next 3 months.
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company and may have a long or short position.
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