Goldman Sachs Has Buy On Focus Media

Goldman Sachs has a Buy rating and a $43 price target on shares of Focus Media FMCN, as it previews earnings from the company. In a note to investors, Goldman Sachs writes, "We expect Focus to report a strong quarter, exceeding consensus. We believe revenue momentum was robust in 1Q, mainly driven by the core FMCG category (about 40% of revenue) and newer categories such as e-commerce, group buying and car rentals, reflecting positive ad market trends towards TV alternatives, as well as Focus' efforts to better manage weaker 1Q seasonality around the CNY holiday in Feb. We expect Focus to observe weaker auto ad trends, but overall impact to be limited. We expect 2Q guidance to also exceed consensus, on the back of better 1Q results, and upside to prior indicated 20%-25% FY11 growth." Shares of FMCN gained 22 cents yesterday to close at $32.79, a loss of 0.68%.